The past year was a good one for renewables as the world’s wind power capacity grew by almost a fifth in 2019, boosted by a boom of wind farms in China and the US.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) found that wind power capacity grew by 60.4 gigawatts, or 19 percent, compared with 2018, in one of the strongest years on record for the global wind power industry.
GWEC had expected 2020 to emerge as a record year as well and forecast growth of 20 percent in the year ahead, but it said that due to the impact of the global coronavirus progress may be a bit slower.
The virus outbreak could slow the construction of energy projects in line with an economy-wide slowdown in manufacturing and infrastructure development, but the council believes COVID-19 could still present an opportunity for the wind industry.
As governments are devising stimulus packages, it is ever more important for them to take this chance and use the growing industry to help galvanize economic recovery through green investments.