Europe adds 15.4 GW wind capacity in 2019, up 27% on year

Europe added 15.4 GW of wind capacity in 2019, bringing total installed capacity to 205 GW, WindEurope said Monday.

Three quarters of additions were onshore (11.8 GW), while a record 3.6 GW were added offshore.

The UK installed most (2.4 GW, most of it offshore), followed by Spain (2.3 GW, all of it onshore) and then Germany (2.2 GW, both onshore and offshore).

While 2019 installations were up 27% on 2018, annual growth would need to double to reach the goals set out in the Green Deal, it said.

"Europe is not building enough new wind farms to deliver the EU's goal that it should be half of Europe's electricity by 2050," WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said.

Last year, Eur19 billion ($20.6 billion) of new wind farm investments were announced, covering 11.8 GW of capacity, while another 15 GW of new capacity were awarded at government auctions and tenders, it said.

Low installations in Germany, where onshore wind growth fell to a 20-year-low, were partly offset by other countries, it said.

Spain was "back big time" reaching the highest rate of installation since 2009, while Sweden (1.6 GW) had a record year.

In France (1.3 GW), administrative delays have slowed down the construction of new wind farms, it added.

Wind power covered around 15% of Europe's power mix last year, it said with TSO data showing some 390 TWh of electricity generated by wind turbines averaging 45 GW.