Eastern Europe, Russia, Caspian to add 16 GW of wind by 2027

The onshore wind market in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Caspian is expected to deploy 16 GW of onshore wind power capacity, growing at an annual rate of 9% from 2018 to 2027, according to a new report by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.

The market expansion in the particular regions will be driven mostly by the implementation of auction schemes in Russia and Kazakhstan and tenders in Poland and Ukraine, said Sohaib Malik, market analyst and lead author of the Eastern Europe Onshore Wind Market Outlook 2018.

After making certain amendments to its renewable energy act this summer, Poland is expected to become a leading market in the region. This will enable already permitted but halted projects to take part in wind power auctions. Meanwhile, Russia is expected to “experience immense growth” between 2021 and 2024 as developers will then face a deadline for connecting most of the 3.2 GW of awarded projects in past auctions. Ukraine is also seen to gain speed as it will have completed the transition of the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme to competitive auctions by end-2019, thus enhancing competition and cutting costs.

In Eastern Europe, wind power auctions are becoming more popular and the market there is seen to grow by over twofold over the next 10 years from the 142 MW at end-2017. Malik stressed on the fact that local governments need to streamline the permitting and grid integration regulations to provide certainty and support the market expansion.

Several small wind markets are expected to emerge, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Slovakia, Wood Mackenzie said.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!