Wind energy, also known as wind power, is when wind turbines are used to produce electricity. Wind turbines generally turn kinetic energy into mechanical energy.
Many countries have successfully generated electrical power through wind energy, which is today’s requirement.
Wind energy, an alternative source, is a renewable energy source whose wind capacity has reached 743 Giga Watts in 2020 both onshore and offshore, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
There is always variation in wind energy capacity every year; you must ensure how much energy will be consumed per year.
Table of Contents
1. China
China is one of the most advanced and developed countries in terms of technologies. It has left all the countries backward to make a clean environment and live healthy by installing wind turbines to produce electricity.
It is also one of the countries responsible for emitting greenhouse gases. China has applied alternatives like wind and solar power to reduce carbon energy.
It uses wind as the third-largest source of electricity generation. The advancement in technology can be seen as it has installed the highest wind farm capacity.
Recently China built an onshore wind farm with 288 GW by the end of 2020, which was 221 GW previously and has become a leader in wind energy.
Since 2005, an effort has been made in electricity production through wind energy. The capacity of wind power was 1,260 megawatts in the year 2005.
From 2005 to 2020, it is observed that the wind energy capacity has significantly increased. The data of 2020 showed that the wind energy capacity had reached 282,650 megawatts.
Despite the pandemic, China broke all the countries’ record-keeping, adding 52 Watts of wind energy capacity. In 2020, China will use wind energy as a third source of electricity.
The Gansu wind farm is the one which had targeted 20,000 MW of wind energy potential at the end of 2020.
China has become the largest wind energy provider globally and is predicted to generate 1200 Megawatts of wind energy capacity in around ten years.
The Gansu Wind Farm project in Gansu province is one of the six national wind power megaprojects approved by the Chinese government.
There is the development of both offshore and onshore wind capacity. However, the product of offshore power didn’t meet the expectations.
The onshore wind farm has a total of 7,965 Megawatts of wind energy. By the end of 2060, China has targeted neutralizing carbon emissions and making a country environmentally healthy.
2. United States
The second highest country that aids the country’s people to produce wind power is the United States. In the past decades, the United States had the world’s first wind farm to produce electricity which contained 20/30 KW wind turbines.
The research and development programs have started many megawatt turbine technologies in today’s world.
The latest data shows that the United States has installed about 122 Gigawatts of wind energy which seemed to be 96.4 GigaWatts in the past data.
By adding 17 GW of new wind energy capacity, the United States has obtained the second position leaving all the countries behind.
Both onshore and offshore wind power projects have been installed in the US, whereas the onshore projects have been the first source to produce wind energy.
There are ten wind farms in the United States located in California, Texas, Oregon, Indiana, California, and Colorado.
Wind power has expanded rapidly in the past years in the US. Different states of the US have been producing electricity through the wind.
Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas have 20%, 58%, 35%, and 43% net electricity generation from wind energy. Texas has been found as the place for most of the wind turbine capacity.
In 2020, the United States enjoyed wind power energy most by increasing 85% wind capacity compared to last year. The recent 2019 and 2020 reflects that the United States inserted more wind energy capacity than other energy-generating technology.
The government announced plans to install 30 GW offshore wind capacity by the end of 2030. The United States has six of the ten largest onshore wind farms.
The Alta Wind Energy Center in California is the largest wind farm with a wind capacity of 1,548 MW in the United States.
Similarly, the largest wind farm in Texas is Los Vientos Wind Farm, with a capacity of 912 Mega Watts. In 2021, the total wind energy capacity installed was 122,478 Megawatts.
3. Germany
Germany is one of the European countries which have made far better efforts to use wind energy and has got the third rank to have the highest wind energy capacity worldwide.
It has installed both offshore and onshore wind capacity and has provided many aids to the people supplying the electricity and reducing carbon emission. In 2017, the wind capacity was 55.6 Gigawatts, with 5.2 GW from offshore.
The wind energy installation rate was increasing in Germany. The energy capacity reached 59.3 GW to 62.85 GW in 2020. Out of which, 55 GW was onshore, and 7.7 GW was offshore.
According to the trade group Wind Europe, Germany supplied 27% electricity through wind power in 2020. Onshore wind turbines are primarily installed, among which Germany installed 420 new onshore wind turbines with a capacity of 1,431 MW in 2020.
From the data of the last few years, the country has uplifted in producing wind power and supporting the country’s economy. Further, it has also started wind power projects both onshore and offshore.
The country has great potential in offshore wind power capacity where the wind speed at sea is 70 to 100% which is more than onshore and much more constant.
In 2019, Germany had installed 1,469 offshore wind turbines with wind power of 7.516 GW. Similarly, it increased the installment of wind turbines onshore, 29,608 at the end of 2020. But the offshore wind capacity installation was less than the data of 2019.
Germany contributed in 2021, where the country consumed 22% of electricity through wind power. It has made a target of supplying 65% of electricity consumption by 2030.
The government aims to have 71 GW of onshore wind power and 20 GW of offshore wind capacity. The Wind Energy Capacity of Germany has increased significantly from 2008 to 2020, reaching the wind capacity from 22,794 megawatts to 62,184 megawatts.
4. India
India is a south Asian country ranking fourth to produce the highest wind energy. Though it is a developing country, the government has made a great effort in advancement and technology.
After China, India is the second-highest Asian country in wind energy capacity. The recent data of 2021 shows it has made progress in reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases by using wind energy with a total of around 39 GW of onshore wind power.
The country has uplifted its position from fifth to fourth in 2021. India produced fifty megawatts of wind capacity in 2019.
India has both offshore and onshore wind power projects. It has started to work on offshore wind power from 2010 to now.
Since late 1990, the country has contributed to producing electricity from the wind; a small project was initiated in 1986 in Tamil Nadu.
India has the third and fourth largest onshore wind farms in the world. The biggest wind farm in India is Jaisalmer Wind Park, located in Rajasthan, India, with 1600 megawatts of wind energy.
The largest onshore wind farm is Muppandal Wind Farm which lies in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu state of India, which has installed 15,00MW wind capacity.
The country has expanded manufacturing wind energy capacity by around 16% from the last five years’ data. India has installed wind power turbines that supply about 10% of electricity.
It has also installed wind energy capacity in different states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, etc.
Tamil Nadu has the highest wind capacity in India, 923.77 megawatts. The wind turbine capacity has been increased since 1980. At the end of 2020, India found a cumulative wind energy capacity of about 38600 megawatts.
Due to the pandemic of COVID 19, India could not meet its target for wind power generation. In 2022, India has aimed to produce 60 Gigawatts of wind power in the following year.
It is a country with a great aim to achieve 30 GigaWatts of offshore wind power generation by the end of 2030. As India produces many greenhouse gases, it focuses on clean energy transition through wind energy.
It has a capacity of 127 GW offshore wind energy with a total potential of 302 Gigawatts. It is also expecting a 24.4 GW increase in wind capacity by 2025.
5. Spain
Spain is one of the European countries whose rank is fifth on the highest wind energy capacity in the world. But in Europe, after Germany, Spain is considered the second, advanced country with a significant contribution to wind power.
Spain has about 27 GW of installed wind power capacity. Wind energy is used to produce electricity with 1.4 GW of new energy capacity.
Like India and the United States, Spain also has onshore wind energy capacity. In the year 2020, 27,259 MW of wind energy capacity were installed.
During the windy days, wind power production has broken the record of all other electricity sources in Spain. Since 2006, Wind power capacity has been installed in Spain to breathe a healthy environment.
In 2006, the installed wind capacity was 11,416 megawatts which rose to 23,031 in 2014 and remained constant till 2015.
Further, the energy capacity was significantly increasing and reached up to 27,259 megawatts in 2020. Wind energy will produce 21.9% of electricity consumed in 2020.
Wind energy has also benefited the economy of Spain. About 4,000 million Euros have been contributed by wind power. There are 1,267 wind farms in Spain, with 21,431 wind turbines installed.
Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, GE, Nordex-Acciona WindPower, and Enercon installed the most turbines in Spain last year in 2020.
It has been found that 18% of Spain’s electricity came from wind energy. The largest wind farm is located in Iberdrola with Caja Rural de Navarra in Spain.
Since 2012, the country has improved its wind turbines to clean the environment and install wind energy.
In 2020, the autonomous regions that have installed wind farms were Aragon with a capacity of 1050.8, Navarra with 262.58 megawatts, and Castilla y León.
Wind power energy doesn’t only support a country’s economy, but it also helps reduce pollution and make a country clean, green, and healthy. Spain is targeting to install offshore wind energy between 1GW and 2 GW by 2030.
Despite the pandemic of COVID 19, Spain has targeted to reach 50.3 GW included in the PNIEC. It has also guaranteed install of wind farms to prioritize the environment.
The government of Spain has aimed to reach 3 Giga Watts of floating wind power capacity and up to 60 megawatts of marine energy by 2030.
Conclusion
Wind energy is an alternative source of energy which aids a lot in saving electricity bills and money. People are installing wind turbines worldwide nowadays.
Wind energy is sustainable, and you can install it on existing farms which would be cost-effective and an opportunity for jobs.
Thus, to reduce pollution and carbon emissions and make a fresh, clean, and healthy environment, a country must prioritize installing wind energy.
(Last Updated on November 1, 2021 by Sadrish Dabadi)
