ETIPWind’s new European wind energy competitiveness report has revaled the continent’s wind industry employed 370,000 and contributed €57bn to its GDP.
The annual study by the industry body provides an update on the macroeconomic indicators for the European wind industry in 2023. The indicators include wind energy installations, contribution of wind energy to Europe’s GDP, trade balance, job creation, and research & innovation (R&I) expenditure.
The report found wind now meets 20% of Europe’s electricity demand, while Denmark’s sector accounts for as much as 56% of all its electricity. Ireland and Germany get roughly a third of their electricity demand from wind and the UK, Netherlands and Spain more than a fourth each.
As of 2023, the analysis found Europe had 272GW of wind ecapacity installed of which 87% was onshore. In the EU, there were 220GW of wind capacity of which 91% was onshore.
The study from the Brussels-based trade group said wind energy is central to both Europe’s energy security and industrial strategy.
It contributes €57.2bn to the region’s GDP and €34.5bn of this are direct contributions from developers, manufacturers and components suppliers.
In 2023 the sector exported €11bn of goods and services.
The ETIPWind study found each gigawatt of European installed onshore wind generated €3.4bn of value to the economy, while the same unit of offshore generated €2.8bn. On average that means each new onshore turbine added €15m to the European economy and every new offshore turbine added €27m.
Finally, the report found EU wind industry has increased investments in R&I for the second consecutive year. In 2023 the wind industry made investments worth 3.79% of its contribution to GDP in R&I and consistently outperforms the average EU R&I investments.
The analysis also highlghts the value the wind sector brings to European citizens, stating in 2023 it sustained 370,000 jobs. In comparison, the wind industry employed 247,000 people 10 years ago.
In addition, wind farms bring local tax revenues and other economic benefits, said ETIPWind. The industry contributed €10bn in taxes to the local governments and communities where turbines are located.
Wind energy generation also avoided 139 million tonnes of CO2 in Europe, the equivalent to avoided costs of €11.6bn, calculated based on the average price of EU emission allowances in 2023 of €83/tCO2.
To reach the 42.5% renewable energy target by 2030 the report said the EU must install 30GW of capacity per year, up from 17GW today. The ETIPWind competitiveness report shows this target is within reach, but R&I investments will be crucial to accelerate wind energy deployment in Europe.
In 2023 the wind industry invested the equivalent of 3.8% of its GDP contribution in R&I activities, which means the wind industry remains to outperform the EU objective to have 3% of its GDP contribution dedicated to R&I activities by 2030.
But this should be combined with targeted public investments, said ETIPWind, and in its latest Strategic R&I Agenda, its experts estimate the sector needs €1.8bn of public investment support in wind R&I between 2025 and 2027.