Wind energy in Europe: 2021 Statistics and the outlook for 2022-2026

Europe installed 17 GW (11 GW in the EU-27) of new wind capacity in 2021. This is not even half of what the EU should be building to be on tract to deliver its 2030 Climate and Energy goals.

81% of the new wind installation in Europe last year were onshore wind. Sweden, Germany, and Turkey built the most onshore wind. The UK had the highest total new wind installations, because they account for most of the new offshore wind installations. Europe now has 236 GW of wind capacity.

We expect Europe to install 116 GW of new wind farms over the period from 2022-2026. Three quarters of these new capacity additions will be onshore wind. We expect the EU-27 to build on average 18 GW of new wind farms between 2022-26. They need to build 32 GW a year in order to meet the EU’s new 40% renewable energy target.

Findings

In 2021 new wind installations in Europe amounted to just 17.4 GW (14 GW onshore and 3.4 GW offshore) as permit¬ting bottlenecks and global supply chain issues continue to delay the commissioning of new wind farms. While 2021 stands as a record year for installations (surpass¬ing the 17.1 GW figure for 2017), they were 11% lower than forecasted.

The countries with the most new installed capacity were the UK, Sweden, Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands in that order. Sweden installed most new onshore wind (2.1 GW). The UK installed most new offshore wind (2.3 GW).

WindEurope expects Europe to install 116 GW of new wind farms over the period from 2022-2026. That’s 23 GW a year on average. Three quarters of these new capacity additions will be onshore wind. We expect the EU-27 to build on average 18 GW of new wind farms over the same period. That more than in previous years but still far too low. They need to build 32 GW a year in order to meet the EU’s new 40% renewable energy target.

Germany will be Europe’s largest wind market thanks to the strong expected performance of its onshore market over the next five year (19.7 GW) and rising offshore installations (5.4 GW). Other markets with significant new installations over 2022-2026 will be the UK (15 GW total), France (12 GW) and Spain (10 GW) and Sweden (7 GW).

Despite higher annual installation rates, Europe will not install anything like the onshore wind volumes it needs to reach its energy and climate targets. Europe would need to install 25 GW of new onshore wind on average per year over the period 2022-2026.

A similar picture fore offshore wind. Despite growing annual installation rates, Europe will not install anything like the offshore wind volumes it needs to reach its energy and climate targets. Europe would need to install more than 8 GW on average per year over the period 2022-2026.