Celebrate Global Wind Day–June 15, 2016

Global Wind Day is an annual celebration of the role that Wind Energy is playing to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.  It is organized by the European Wind Energy Assoc (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

The GWEC has released its 2015 Annual Market Update (click here to see the report).  The upshot is that we are making great strides across the globe, and that should encourage Democrats to continue to push hard for continued US commitment to wind and other renewable resources.

Here are a few key excerpts from that report:

• The US wind energy growth has been hampered recently by the short term nature of federal subsidies.  The good news, though, is that Congress and President Obama have signed into law an extension of the Production Tax Credit, which opens the possibility for strong sustained growth.

• “There are a lot of positive signals: decadal low fossil fuel prices have had no appreciable affect on the growth of wind and solar; the Financial Stability Board’s pronouncements on the climate related risks to the global financial system; China’s State Grid calling for first a regional and then a global grid to transport clean energy around the world – a new Silk Road; the growing divestment from fossil fuels by institutional investors; and of course, the rapidly growing installation levels and record low prices of both wind power and solar PV.“

• “Wind power had yet another record-breaking year. After passing the 50 GW mark for the first time in a single year in 2014, we reached yet another milestone in 2015 as annual installations topped 63 GW, a 22% increase. By the end of last year, there were about 433 GW of wind power spinning around the globe, a cumulative 17% increase; and wind power supplied more new power generation than any other technology in 2015, according to the IEA.”

• “China led the way, as usual, with a record 30.8 GW of new installed capacity, breaking the previous record it had set (in 2014) for installations in a single year. China now has more than 145 GW of wind power installed, more than in all of the European Union; and last year it was the first country ever to invest more than USD 100 billion in renewables in a single year.”