Windtech International - Europe invested € 51.2 billion in wind energy in 2017 (2024)

Category: Industry News

Europe invested a total of € 51.2 billion in wind energy in 2017. The development of new farms accounted for€ 22.3 billion of this.This is according to WindEurope’s ‘Financing and Investment Trends’ report.

The rest of the investment went on the refinancing of existing wind farms, the acquisition of projects and of companies involved in wind and on public market fundraising. The total investment figure was 9% up on 2016.The € 22 billion invested in new wind farms was down on the € 28 billion invested in 2016. But it covered more capacity - 11.5GW compared to 10.3GW - reflecting the falling costs of wind energy. wind energy accounted for half of all power sector investments in 2017.

The maturity of the wind energy sector and the competitive pressure of auctions is changing the way wind projects are financed. Power producers still carry projects on balance sheet through Final Investment Decision (FID). But refinancing and the sale of minority stakes in projects are coming in much earlier in the process.

And more investors are entering projects as equity partners, particularly from the financial services industry. These partnerships allow power producers to ‘recycle’ capital to finance new wind farms. A healthy pipeline of projects is diversifying the pool of investors: 82 lenders were active in 2017, including multilateral financial institutions, export credit agencies and commercial banks from both Europe and Asia.

Green bonds are emerging as an alternative source of debt. This is also helping risk-averse institutional investors to access the wind sector. Green bonds raised € 17.5 billion in 2017, the highest rate of issuance in the last five years. € 8.5 billion were in corporate renewables portfolios, € 7 billion in wind energy and € 1.9 billion in transmission lines.

20 European countries made investments in wind in 2017 compared to 16 in 2016 - though Germany and the UK accounted for half of all new FIDs. Investments in Southern and Eastern Europe remain low, representing just 16% of the total new assets financed in Europe (€ 3.5 billion).

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Windtech International - Europe invested €  51.2 billion in wind energy in 2017 (2024)

FAQs

Which country is investing the most in wind power? ›

Leaders in global offshore wind energy production

China is home to almost half of the world's accumulated offshore power. This is closely linked to its high capacity for building offshore farms. China built more offshore farms in 2021 than all other countries combined over five years.

Who is the largest producer of wind energy in Europe? ›

Germany

Which country produces the most wind energy in the world? ›

China is the world leader in wind energy, with over one-quarter of the world's wind power capacity. The country has the world's largest onshore windfarm in Gansu Province, built out of the Gobi Desert.

Who is the largest producer of wind turbines? ›

Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems AS is the leading wind turbine manufacturer in the world (by capacity). The company reported revenues of $18430.89 million for the fiscal year ended December 2021 (FY2021), an increase of 9.1% over FY2020, due to increased pricing for wind energy.

What are the top 5 states that use wind energy? ›

Top 10 states with the highest number of wind turbines
StateNumber of wind turbines
Texas18,696
Iowa6,345
California5,649
Oklahoma5,522
6 more rows

What are the top 2 states for wind energy? ›

Data from the EIA shows wind energy generation in thousand-megawatt hours of electricity. Texas is at the top of the list, generating about 66% more than Oklahoma, the second highest generating state.

Who are the top 5 wind energy producers? ›

5 Wind Energy Companies Innovating the Renewable Energy Industry
  • GE Renewable Energy.
  • Siemens Gamesa.
  • Vestas.
  • Goldwind.
  • Suzlon.

Who is the largest consumer of wind energy? ›

Generation by country
CountryGen (TWh)% gen.
World2098.467.3
China762.708.6
United States434.3010.1
Germany124.9122.3
68 more rows

Where is wind energy most used? ›

China has a installed capacity of 221 GW and is the leader in wind energy, with over a third of the world's capacity. It has the world's largest onshore wind farm with a capacity of 7,965 megawatt (MW), which is five times larger than its nearest rival. The US comes second with 96.4 GW of installed capacity.

Who invented the windmill? ›

One of them is the first windmills were probably invented by a Greek, Tesibius, who lived from 285 to 222 BC. Also, the earliest known wind powered grain mills and water pumps were used by the Persians in A.D. 500–800 and by the Chinese in A.D. 1200.

How many houses can one wind turbine power? ›

At a 42% capacity factor (i.e., the average among recently built wind turbines in the United States, per the 2021 edition of the U.S. Department of Energy's Land-Based Wind Market Report), that average turbine would generate over 843,000 kWh per month—enough for more than 940 average U.S. homes.

Why does China use so much wind energy? ›

Satisfying the rocketing electricity demand and reducing air pollution are the main driving forces behind the development of wind energy in China.

Who owns most of wind turbines in USA? ›

GE has consistently been the dominant manufacturer of wind turbines installed in the United States since it purchased Enron's wind business (formally Zond) in 2002. Between 2005 and 2015, GE's average annual share of installed capacity was 44%, or 2.7 GW per year.

What company owns the most wind turbines? ›

Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Vestas) retains the top spot as the largest supplier of wind turbines across the onshore and offshore wind markets. Vestas is currently the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer with an extensive footprint across the world, including North America and other countries.

What are the top 3 countries that produce wind energy? ›

15 Countries That Produce the Most Wind Energy
  • #9 Canada. ...
  • #8 France. ...
  • #7 Brazil. ...
  • #6 United Kingdom. ...
  • #4 India. ...
  • #3 Germany. 2021 Megawatts of Installed Wind Turbine Capacity: 63,760. ...
  • #2 United States. 2021 Megawatts of Installed Wind Turbine Capacity: 132,738. ...
  • #1 China. 2021 Megawatts of Installed Wind Turbine Capacity: 328,973.
Jan 14, 2023

What company operates wind farms in Europe? ›

ERG is a leading wind energy operator in Italy and Europe, focusing on sustainable development and environmental respect.

Which countries are in the top 3 of using wind energy? ›

  • Wind energy by country. Let's take a look at the top ten countries for wind energy production.
  • #1 China. As we now know, China is the world leader when it comes to wind power, though they certainly still have room for improvement!
  • #2 The United States. ...
  • #3 Germany. ...
  • #4 India. ...
  • #5 Spain. ...
  • #6 The United Kingdom. ...
  • #7 France.

Who are the biggest offshore wind companies in Europe? ›

Orsted is the major offshore wind developer worldwide. As of December 2021, the Danish company had an offshore operational capacity of roughly 7.5 gigawatts. Utilities RWE and Vattenfall followed with an installed offshore capacity of 4.4 and 2.5 gigawatts, respectively.

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