In recent years, global wind electricity generation has also expanded significantly. In 1990, 16 countries produced around 3.6 billion kWh of wind energy. In 2010, 105 nations created around 340 billion kWh of wind energy, and by 2020, 129 countries (including Puerto Rico) would have generated roughly 1,597 billion kWh.
In 2020, the top five nations in terms of wind electricity generation, as well as their percentage shares of total global wind electricity generation, were:
Wind electricity generating data for world regions and countries may be found on the EIA’s International Energy Statistics Portal.
Which country has the most number of wind turbines?
China has 342 GW of installed wind capacity. With nearly a quarter of the world’s wind power capacity, China is the world leader in wind energy.
What are the top three countries that use wind energy to generate electricity?
On the list, India is ranked fourth. With a total capacity of 35 GW, it is Asia’s second-largest wind power producer.
With 221 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind capacity, China leads the pack, followed by the United States and Germany. The following are the top ten:
China is the world leader in wind energy, with 221 GW of installed capacity and more than a third of the world’s capacity. It has the world’s largest onshore wind farm, with a capacity of 7,965 megawatts (MW), five times that of its closest competitor.
With 96.4 GW of installed capacity, the United States comes in second. Six of the top ten onshore wind farms are located in the country. The Alta Wind Energy Centre in California, with a capacity of 1,548 MW, is the world’s second-largest onshore wind farm.
Germany has the most installed wind power capacity in Europe, with 59.3 GW. The Gode Windfarms, which have a combined capacity of 582 MW, are the country’s largest offshore wind farms.
With a total capacity of 35 GW, India has the second-highest wind capacity in Asia. India is the only Asian country to make the list, aside from China. The 1,500-MW Muppandal wind farm in Tamil Nadu and the 1,064-MW Jaisalmer Wind Park in Rajasthan are the world’s third and fourth largest onshore wind farms, respectively.
The overall capacity of the UK is just over 20.7 GW. It has six of the world’s top ten highest-capacity offshore wind projects. One of these is the Walney project, which is the world’s largest offshore wind project and is located off the coast of Cumbria in North West England.
The installed capacity of France is 15.3 GW. According to the research, France is shifting away from nuclear power, which historically provided 75% of the country’s energy.
Brazil has the most wind power capacity in South America, with 14.5 GW. In February 2019, wind power grew by 8.9% year over year. It goes on to say that wind power ranks fourth in Brazil’s total energy mix, accounting for around 8% of the country’s 162.5 GW capacity.
Renewable energy capacity in Canada now stands at 12.8 GW, with 566 MW of additional capacity added in 2018. According to the research, this energy is generated by 299 wind farms with 6,596 wind turbines. The Rivire-du-Moulin project, with a capacity of 300 megawatts, is Canada’s largest wind farm.
Italy is at the bottom of the list, with barely over 10 GW of wind energy capacity in 2018. The wind business in Italy is primarily centered in the country’s south and on its islands.
Which countries used wind energy to meet 40% or more of its electricity demand?
By 2016, wind power accounted for about 4% of total global electricity generation. Because of concerns about the expense of petroleum and the impact of fossil fuel combustion on the climate and ecology, wind energy generation has risen substantially (see also global warming). Total installed wind power capacity increased by a factor of five from 95 gigawatts in 2007 to 487 gigawatts in 2016. In 2016, China and the United States had the most installed wind capacity (168.7 gigawatts and 82.1 gigawatts, respectively), and Denmark generated the highest percentage of its electricity from wind in the same year (nearly 38 percent). According to the wind power industry, the globe might generate about 20% of its total electricity from wind power by 2030. Depending on the area, wind energy could cost as little as 26 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to various estimations. The cost of coal, natural gas, and other sources of fossil energy, which ranges between 5 and 17 cents per kilowatt-hour, is comparable to this.
What country obtains 20% of its electricity from wind farms?
Wind farms generated over 43% of the electricity generated in Denmark in 2014. The massive rise over 2013, when the proportion was already impressive at 34%, was largely due to the first full year of operation for the 400-megawatt Anholt wind farm in the Kattegat Sea, which is one of the world’s largest offshore wind developments. Denmark’s wind energy production met a whopping 62 percent of the country’s electricity consumption in January 2014. According to a government assessment, wind will be Denmark’s cheapest source of power by 2016, costing half as much as new coal or natural gas-fired generation. This is part of a bigger energy transition: renewables, particularly wind and solar, are becoming more affordable around the world, establishing them as the energy sources of the twenty-first century.
Wind power accounts for at least 20% of electricity generation in both Portugal and Spain. Wind farms in Portugal are second only to hydroelectric plants in terms of output. Wind power output outnumbers coal-fired power by 7% and is approximately double what natural gas power plants contribute to the grid.
On an annual basis, nuclear power generation in Spain still has a tiny advantage over wind power generation, however wind power did edge nuclear in the months of January, February, and November in 2014. However, beginning in mid-2014, a tough regulation requiring substantial cuts to wind farm incentivesapplicable to both current and new projectswas enacted, casting uncertainty on the future of Spanish wind power expansion.
Ireland is another country on the verge of achieving 20% wind generation, with wind farms producing 19% of all electricity in 2014, up from 17% the year before. Apple has taken notice of Ireland’s and Denmark’s wind resources, announcing plans in February 2015 to build and operate data centers in both countries powered entirely by renewable energymostly low-cost wind powerby 2017.
Germany and the United Kingdom, with far larger economies, currently generate more than 9% of their electricity from wind power. Germany’s vast wind and solar power potential allows the country to move away from coal even while nuclear power is phased out. In 2014, wind farm output increased by 8%, while coal plant output decreased by 6%. In the United Kingdom, the contrast between wind and coal was even more significant in 2014, with 11 percent more electricity generated by wind and 25% less electricity generated by coal than in 2013.
Romania is next on the list, with a wind share of about 9%. One of the world’s largest wind farms, a 600-megawatt project owned by Czech utility CEZ, is located in this country. Although recent reductions in renewable energy subsidies have caused uncertainty in Romania’s policy environment, comments made by the country’s energy minister in February 2015 show a desire to reinstate wind power incentives.
What about the world’s leading carbon dioxide emitters, the primary greenhouse gas that is undermining the planet’s climate system? The United States produces more electricity than any other country, with 182 terawatt-hours produced in 2014. This amounted to 4.4 percent of the country’s annual output. Iowa leads a group of nine states in the double digits with a 28 percent wind power share.
Wind power still contributes for less than 3% of electricity output in China, which has the world’s largest installed wind power capacity of 115,000 megawatts. However, since 2011, China’s wind-generated electricity has more than doubled, leaving nuclear power in the dust. After coal and hydropower, wind power is presently the country’s third-largest source of electricity. China and the United States, which have enough wind potential to power their economies several times over, can certainly match or perhaps exceed Europe’s proportion of wind-generated electricity. The material is available and ready to be used.
On the Danish island of Samso, a windmill rises over farmland. Bob Strong/Reuters
Who makes the most use of wind power?
The top ten countries in the world with the most wind energy capacity
- China. China is the world leader in wind energy, with 221 GW of installed capacity and over a third of the world’s capacity.
Wind turbines are used in how many countries?
According to scientists with the project Drawdown: the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming, which has been turned into a book by Penguin, at least 83 countries now use wind energy commercially, with over 300,000 generators accounting for about 4% of the world’s electricity needs.
To power the entire world, how many wind turbines would be required?
The calculation, according to Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council, is as follows: 21,000 terawatt-hours (average annual global electricity consumption) divided by 0.005256 terawatt-hours of yearly wind energy production per wind turbine equals 3,995,434 onshore turbines.
Why does China make the maximum use of wind power?
With the highest installed capacity of any country and sustained strong expansion in new wind projects, China is the world leader in wind power generation.
China has remarkable wind power potential due to its enormous land mass and extensive coastline: it is estimated that China has roughly 2,380 gigawatts (GW) of usable capacity on land and 200GW on the sea. At the end of 2020, wind power was still China’s third-largest source of electricity, accounting for 6.1 percent of total power generation.
China will install 71.6 GW of wind power producing capacity by 2020, bringing its total capacity to 281 GW. China has the world’s greatest installed capacity and new capacity in 2020, with the second largest market, the United States, adding 14 GW in 2020 and having an installed capacity of 118 GW. In the United States, however, wind power has a substantially greater capacity factor.
By 2030, China is expected to have 1200 GW of combined wind and solar capacity, as part of the government’s goal of increasing non-fossil fuels’ proportion of primary energy consumption to roughly 25%. The Chinese government established a goal for total installed wind and solar capacity to reach 1,200 gigawatts by 2030 in late 2020. Wind power has been acknowledged as a vital component of China’s economic growth. China, according to experts, can reach carbon neutrality by 2060 and peak emissions by 2030.
China 205 GW
According to the IEA’s Renewables 2020 report, China has by far the world’s largest installed solar energy fleet, with 205 GW in 2019.
In the same year, solar energy generated 223.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in the country.
Despite being the world’s highest emitter, China’s huge energy needs can handle both the world’s largest coal and renewable fleets due to the sheer size of its economy.
During the late 2010s, government subsidies boosted activity in the industry, while commercial project subsidies have since been taken out in favor of a competitive auction approach.
The Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Solar Park (2.2 GW) in Qinghai province is China’s largest single solar project.
United States 76 GW
In 2019, the United States has the world’s second-largest installed solar capacity, with 76 GW providing 93.1 TWh of power.
As the US intensifies its renewable energy initiatives and aims to entirely decarbonize its electricity system by 2035, solar installations are expected to reach over 419 GW over the next decade.
The solar sector in the United States is dominated by utility-scale projects, with California, Texas, Florida, and Virginia among the most active states.
The renewable portfolio standards (RPS) law, which requires energy retailers to produce a percentage of electricity derived from renewable sources, is a primary driver of growth in the United States. In recent years, expansion has been aided by lower implementation costs and applicable tax credits.
Japan 63.2 GW
According to the IEA’s data, Japan ranks third among countries with the biggest solar power capacity, with a fleet totaling 63.2 GW in 2019, generating 74.1 TWh of electricity.
Alternative energy sources such as solar and other renewables have grown in popularity after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which caused Japan to drastically reduce its nuclear energy activities.
Feed-in-tariff (FiT) systems have been successful in Japan in incentivizing the deployment of solar technology, although the solar PV market is anticipated to decrease slightly in the following years.
According to the IEA, PV additions in Japan will begin to decline in 2022, owing to the phaseout of the generous FiT plan for large-scale projects and undersubscribed capacity in earlier auctions.
Nonetheless, depending on government policy and cost reductions, installed solar capacity in Japan could reach 100 GW by 2025.
Germany 49.2 GW
With a national fleet of roughly 49.2 GW in 2019, Germany is the leading country in Europe for solar deployments, providing 47.5 TWh of electricity.
Competitive auctions have helped the industry in recent years, and the German government recently suggested raising its 2030 solar installation target to 100 GW, as part of a goal to achieve a 65 percent renewable energy mix by the end of the decade.
In Germany, small-scale, private installations are prevalent, with government support mechanisms such as reimbursement for surplus generation incentivizing them, while utility-scale projects are likely to rise in the coming years.
The 187-megawatt (MW) Weesow-Willmersdorf facility north of Berlin, created by German utility EnBW, is the country’s largest solar project to date.
India 38 GW
India has the world’s fifth-largest installed solar capacity, with 38 GW built in 2019 and 54 TWh produced.
India’s energy demand is predicted to expand faster than any other region in the coming decades, and as the world’s third-largest carbon emitter, policies are being devised to transition the country away from coal and toward renewables.
Solar is expected to play a key role in the government’s goal of 450 GW of renewable energy generation by 2030.
Under current policy aspirations, solar is expected to account for around 31% of India’s energy mix by 2040, compared to less than 4% today, according to the IEA.
The agency attributes this shift to India’s “exceptional cost-competitiveness of solar,” which “out-competes existing coal-fired electricity by 2030 even when supplemented with battery storage.”
To expedite the development of India’s solar power market in the future years, transmission-grid constraints and land-acquisition problems will need to be overcome.