WindEurope reports that in 2023, the EU saw a construction of 17 GW in new wind energy, a modest increase from 2022 and a record-breaking achievement for a single year. Despite this, it falls short of the EU's 2030 targets, which call for an annual construction of 30 GW. Wind was 19% of all electricity produced in Europe’s last year.

According to WindEurope, Germany built the most new wind capacity followed by the Netherlands and Sweden. The Netherlands built the most new offshore wind, including the 1.5 GW “Hollandse Kust Zuid” – for now the world’s largest wind farm.

The IEA estimates that Europe will build 23 GW a year of new wind over 2024-28. WindEurope saiys that the actions set out in the EU Wind Power Package should deliver a significant increase in the annual build-out – and strengthen Europe’s wind energy supply chain. National implementation of the actions is key.

Crucial actions include the further simplification of permitting, improvements in the design of the auctions to build new wind farms and public financial support for wind turbine manufacturing and key infrastructure, explais the association.

Finally, WindEorpe explains that the amount of electricity produced from 1 GW of wind continued to grow. The “capacity factor” of new onshore wind farms now ranges from 30-48%, and new offshore wind is consistently 50%. The capacity factor measures how much output you get from a unit of capacity – it varies between different renewable technologies.