European wind turbine orders rise 11% in H1 2024 - WindEurope

Europe ordered 9.5 GW of wind turbines in the first six months of 2024, representing a year-over-year increase of 11%, shows a WindEurope report released today.

This includes 7.4 GW of firm orders for onshore wind turbines and 2.1 GW for offshore.

In the EU, orders were 8.9 GW, marking an increase of 33% compared to the first half of 2023.

Auction volumes were also strong, WindEurope said. In the first half of 2024, governments awarded 19.7 GW of wind power capacity in auctions, 6.5 GW onshore and 13.2 GW offshore, which is already 72% of what they awarded during the whole 2023.

The trend with investment decisions, however, is negative. Europe took EUR 15.4 billion (USD 17bn) of final investment decisions (FIDs) in new wind farms in the period, less than 30% of the total investment in 2023.

As for installations, Europe built 6.4 GW of wind energy capacity in the first half of 2024, 5.3 GW of which onshore and 1.1 GW offshore. The EU-27 installed 5.7 GW of this, led by Germany with 1.7 GW, followed by France with 1.2 GW and Spain with 876 MW.

The EU now has 225 GW of wind and WindEurope expects that it will reach 350 GW by 2030, below the EU target of 425 GW.

The group has reduced its forecast for installations in Europe in 2024 to 19 GW from 21 GW.

According to WindEurope, the main bottleneck now is in electricity grids. It urged governments to fully implement the new EU permitting rules and the Wind Power Package. Some of them also need to improve their auction design.

“Governments need to act urgently to apply the EU permitting rules and ensure the grids connections are ready on time. They need to help improve the business case for those looking to build new wind farms. And ensure the ports and other logistics are fit for purpose. They must also ramp up their support for the electrification of heating, transport and industry,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.104)

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