World’s wind power capacity up by fifth after record year
Wind power had a banner year in 2019, with the world adding 60.4 gigawatts of new capacity — a 19% jump over the year before. Offshore wind was the real breakthrough, making up a tenth of all new installations for the first time ever as turbines moved from niche projects into mainstream infrastructure. The U.S. and China together drove nearly two-thirds of the growth, while falling costs — wind is now more than 70% cheaper than a decade ago — keep pulling new countries into the market. Industry leaders are clear that even this record pace needs to roughly double to meet Paris climate goals, but the momentum is unmistakable: wind is becoming one of the cheapest, most scalable ways to power a livable future.
