The Global
Wind Energy Council released its annual market statistics last week in
Brussels. The 2017 market remained above 50 GW, with Europe, India and
the offshore sector
having record years. Chinese installations were down slightly—‘only’ 19.5
GW—but the rest of the world made up for most of that. Total installations in
2017 were 52,573 MW, bringing the global total to 539,581 MW.
Beyond the statistics, however, is the fact that wind power
is in a rapid transition to becoming a fully commercialized, unsubsidized
technology; successfully competing against heavily subsidized fossil and
nuclear incumbents. The transition to fully commercial market-based operation
has left policy gaps in some countries, and the global 2017 numbers reflect
that, as will installations in 2018.
