The Future Of Wind Power Depends On Deployment

Source: Felicia Jackson · FORBES · | June 15, 2021

Source: LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 12: Turbines of the new Burbo Bank off shore wind farm lay in the wake of a maintenance boat in the mouth of the River Mersey on May 12, 2008 in Liverpool, England. The Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm is capable of generating up to 90MW (megawatts) of clean, environmentally sustainable electricity. This is enough power for approximately 80,000 homes. The site is run by Danish energy company Dong Energy. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Fossil fuel’s share in the energy mix is as high today as ten years ago, despite the falling costs of renewables. With less than a decade to embed low carbon transition in the energy markets, GWEC is calling on policy makers to commit to the actions necessary to scale wind up 3-4 times in the next decade.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is using Global Wind Day to reaffirm the mission of The Global Wind Coalition for COP26, to call on politicians and policy makers to stop talking and start acting. Rebecca Williams, Head of COP26 at GWEC says that this year is ‘a make-or-break decade’ and that policy makers “need a climate emergency approach to policy making.” The coming decade is critical, as infrastructure built over the next few years will lock in path dependency for years to come.

According to recent Net Zero Roadmaps from both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the world needs to be installing wind power at around 3-4 times the level of 2020, which saw a record 93GW installed. In these scenarios, wind and solar PV make up 70% of electricity generation by 2050.