Global wind power outlook takes hit from US weakness, China slowdown -WoodMac - Reuters
Global wind power outlook takes hit from US weakness, China slowdown -WoodMac | Reuters
Global wind power outlook takes hit from US weakness, China slowdown -WoodMac
Acciona Windpower 1.5 MW wind turbine generators are seen on Tatanka Wind Farm as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Brandt, South Dakota, U.S., October 27, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
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Dec 5 (Reuters) - The global wind power sector will add less capacity in the next decade than previously expected due to financial trouble in the U.S. offshore wind industry and sluggish approval and project execution in China, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday.
Orsted (ORSTED.CO), the world's largest offshore windfarm developer, energy giants BP (BP.L) and Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) have booked hundreds of millions of dollars worth of impairments on their U.S. offshore wind power portfolios, citing spiralling financing costs and supply delays.
Wood Mackenzie cut by 29 gigawatts (GW) its forecast for global wind power capacity by end-2032, downgrading cumulative installed capacity to 2.35 terawatts.
The downgrade makes up less than a 2% change in expected capacity, with more than 80% of the cut stemming from headwinds including in key markets like the United States and China.
"Long-term market fundamentals remain strong globally despite near-term challenges in project execution in China and offshore market maturation in the U.S.," said Luke Lewandowski, Vice President, Global Renewables Research at Wood Mackenzie said in a statement.
Orsted's cancellation of its Ocean Wind project in New Jersey and supply chain issues are expected to push nearly 8 GW of U.S. offshore projects beyond 2032, WoodMac said. This means that the United States will reach around half of its goal to install 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
WoodMac said near-term headwinds from a slow Chinese project market led to its 12 GW reduction in the global wind capacity forecast due to tightened permit requirements and project cancellations, but China's onshore wind outlook from 2026 to 2032 remained unchanged despite the short-term challenges.
Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: hydropower
Hydropower — electricity generated by turbines capturing energy from moving water — was for many years the primary contributor of renewable energy to the U.S. electricity grid. Its growth was rapid into the 1970s, and since then has offered a stable supply of power, while a declining share of all generation. For many years, hydropower was seen as clean energy and an unalloyed good, but a greater understanding of the impact of dams on ecosystems and wildlife has led to the removal of some dams. As of 2019, hydropower trails wind as a renewable source of power generation.