More than 52 gigawatts (GW) of clean, emissions-free wind power was added globally in 2017, bringing total installations to 539 GW worldwide, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said on Wednesday.
The report stated that wind power is the most competitively priced technology in many if not most markets worldwide.
"With new records set in Europe, India and in the offshore sector, annual markets will resume rapid growth after 2018," according to GWEC's Global Wind Report: Annual Market Update released on Wednesday.
Wind markets in Morocco, India, Mexico and Canada range in the area of $0.03 kilowatts-hour (kWh), with a recent Mexican tender coming in with prices well below $0.02/kWh.
The report underlined that offshore wind had its first ‘subsidy-free’ bids in tenders in Germany and the Netherlands, with tenders of nearly 2GW of new offshore wind capacity receiving no more than the wholesale price of electricity.
Wind penetration levels continue to increase rapidly. Denmark got 44 percent of its electricity from wind in 2017, and Uruguay more than 30 percent, the report showed.
"In 2017, wind supplied 11.6 percent of the EU’s power, led by Denmark, Portugal and Ireland at 24 percent and Spain and Germany at just under 20 percent," the report read.
In addition, four U.S. states get more than 30 percent of their electricity from wind, as does the state of South Australia, along with a number of states in Germany.
Steve Sawyer, GWEC secretary general, said in the statement that wind power is leading the charge in the transition away from fossil fuels; and continues to blow away the competition on price, performance and reliability.
"Driven by the improving economics of wind power, as well as solar and storage, the outlines of a 100 percent renewable energy system are becoming clear," Sawyer concluded.
(Anadolu Agency)
