Green energy development in 2023 and “wind drought”

Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are great examples in the global energy landscape. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that these countries are the only ones in the world that derive almost all (over 99.7%) of their electricity from renewable sources. In recent years, 40 more countries, including 12 European nations, have made significant progress in this direction, generating at least 50% of their electricity from renewable sources. These countries, namely Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, and Portugal, are leading the global transition to renewable energy.

The Global Wind Report shows that 117 GW of new wind capacity was installed worldwide in 2023, marking a 50% increase from the previous year and the best result in history. China, the USA, Brazil, and Germany provided the most wind energy capacity in 2023. However, the wind industry must increase annual growth to at least 320 GW by 2030 to meet the COP 28 commitment. The global total wind capacity currently stands at 1,021 GW.

Currently, about 6.5% of the world’s electricity is generated by wind, but this percentage may increase to over ⅓ by 2050. Scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford have analysed global climate data since 1979, identifying locations prone to “wind drought” and areas where wind can often be present. According to the data, northwestern Europe is vulnerable to a lack of wind, and more stable and reliable locations are the North American Midwest, Australia, the Sahara, Argentina, Central Asia, and South Africa.