Wind energy will achieve record growth globally over the next 5 years, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) trade association said on Thursday, as the impact of COVID-19 has only been to delay, not cancel, projects.

“While some project completion dates have been pushed into 2021 due to the pandemic, next year is expected to be a record year for the wind industry with 78 GW (gigawatts) of new wind capacity forecast to be installed in 2021,” GWEC said in an outlook report.

Global Wind Energy Set for Five Years of Record Growth: Research | Devamı>>>

Microsoft this announced a new wind energy deal in the Netherlands. As part of this deal, Microsoft will purchase 90 MW from Borssele III/IV belonging to wind farm developer Eneco. Microsoft will use this green energy to power its datacenters for 15 years starting in 2022. This is Microsoft’s 14th renewable energy deal and with this deal, Microsoft’s total clean energy portfolio has reached 1.5 gigawatts.

“Our purchasing of renewable energy helps improve the sustainability of our operations and local grids,” said Brian Janous, general manager, Energy and Sustainability, Microsoft.

Microsoft Announces a New Wind Energy Deal in The Netherlands | Devamı>>>

Eleven Member States already achieved their 2020 targets in 2017, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy, in the European Union (EU), reached 17.5%, up from 17.0% in 2016 and more than double the share in 2004 (8.5%), the first year for which the data are available.

The share of renewables in gross final consumption of energy is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The EU’s target is to obtain 20% of energy in gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and at least 32% by 2030.

Share of Renewable Energy In The EU Up to 17.5% In 2017 | Devamı>>>

New figures from BloombergNEF (BNEF) show that corporations bought a record amount of 13.4GW of clean energy through power purchase agreements (PPAs) in 2018, well over double the previous record of 6.1GW set in 2017.

The research firm’s latest Corporate Energy Market Outlook, reveals that 121 companies in 21 different countries signed up to buy renewable energy last year. More than 60% of those purchases were in the US, where PPAs to buy 8.5GW of power were signed, almost three times 2017’s figure.

Companies Become a Major Force In The Clean Energy As Purchases Double | Devamı>>>

Onshore and offshore wind farms in Germany generated almost 15 terrawatt-hours of electricity in December, according to the energy and water industry trade association BDEW.

The association said a total of 14.83 billion kilowatt-hours was produced by wind power in the last month of the year.

This would be enough to cover the electricity consumption of Berlin or Schleswig-Holstein for one year, it said.

However, in reality there is a lack of energy storage facilities to use volatile renewable power as needed, BDEW added.

German Wind ‘Close to 15TWh in December’ | Devamı>>>