Global Wind Organisation is the industry body responsible for safety training standards for over 90,000 of the world’s wind energy workers has revealed its network is emerging from Covid-19 lockdown. There are over 350 GWO Certified Training Centres in 43 countries around the world and up to 83% told a recent survey that they will have reopened their doors by the end of May.
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, many voices are calling for society to accelerate investment in green energy to help economies recover. GWEC CEO Ben Backwell highlights five key actions that governments must take to power a sustainable recovery and how the wind industry can help.
By the end of 2019, the top 15 wind farm owner-operators held over one-third of the total 650 GW of onshore and offshore assets globally. The newly merged China Energy (formerly Guodian Group and Shenhua Group) is by far the largest asset owner, with more than double the capacity under their ownership compared to the second place China Huaneng. The non-Chinese top asset owner are active globally – Iberdrola, EDPR, Enel Green Power, RWE, Acciona, EDF, NextEra and Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
India is the world’s fourth-largest onshore wind market by installations, with 37.5 GW of capacity as of 2019. Technical potential at 120-metre hub height is a whopping 695 GW, according the National Institute of Wind Energy, and the government has set a wind capacity target of 60 GW by 2022 and 140 GW by 2030. Wind is already the second most competitive energy source on India’s grid.
As the world battles the coronavirus pandemic, it is critical to maintain sight of long-term climate objectives. International commitment to climate action can be the key to enabling economies to recover and rebuild more resilient systems once the storm has passed. Acceleration of renewables could power a green economic recovery, unlocking at least $50 trillion to boost global GDP and power millions of renewable energy jobs by 2050, according to the recent Global Renewables Outlook by IRENA.
In April, GWEC alongside signatories representing all the major wind industry corporates and associations globally released a statement urging governments across the world to put the wind industry at the centre of their economic recovery plans. This is particularly crucial for countries in Asia, where rising populations, GDP and energy demand are creating an urgent need to rapidly scale-up and renew the region’s infrastructure to create energy security and support economic growth.
As part of GWEC Market Intelligence’s services, the database on global wind auctions is an important tool for the industry to stay up-to-date on all the latest developments and business opportunities around the world. While the industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and auctions have been delayed or postponed in a few countries, other countries have found solutions to continue their scheduled auctions to continue driving forward wind power growth.
Of all the possible shocks any of us thought we would have to deal with only a few short weeks ago, a deadly, global pandemic in the form of Covid-19 just wasn’t on anybody’s
radar. Like many other manufacturing or service enterprises, supply chains in the wind sector will continue to be impacted in the weeks and months ahead. Some project mile-stones
will be deferred, with impacts being felt throughout the whole value chain, whilst at the operational level; turbines, blades, component and material orders will be cancelled or unfulfilled.
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