Europe added 4900MW of new wind energy capacity in the first half of this year, new figures released by WindEurope have confirmed.
Combined installations of new onshore and offshore wind capacity were up on the 4.5GW in the same period last year, but onshore installations were down due to “serious issues in Germany”, stated the trade body.
Europe installed 2.9GW of onshore wind in the first half of 2019, down on the 3.3GW installed in the same period last year, while 1.9GW of new offshore wind was installed in the first half of the year, up from the 1.1GW added in the same period in 2018.
Germany had its worst first half of the year since 2000 for onshore wind, though the industry expects installations to pick up in the second half of this year, but German grid connected volumes for 2019 as a whole will be lower than historical levels.
Of all European countries, France had the most onshore installations with 523MW.
Onshore wind installations are typically stronger in the second half of the year, according to WindEurope, with this tendency particularly pronounced in Nordic countries where installation activity is strongest in summer months.
WindEurope stated: “Turbine orders and market activity suggest we will see significant volumes grid connected in Sweden and Norway in the second semester.”
Large volumes are also expected in Spain on the back of the 4.1GW auctioned in 2017 and 2018.
The UK led offshore wind installations in the first half of 2019 with 931MW, Denmark with 374MW, Belgium with 370MW and Germany with 252MW.
UK installations include capacity of the Hornsea 1 project, which, when completed, will be the world’s largest wind farm with 1.2GW.
In the first half of 2019 Europe invested €8.8bn in the construction of future wind farms, broken out as €6.4bn in onshore wind and €2.4bn in offshore wind, according to WindEurope.
These investments will result in 5.9GW being installed and grid connected over the next two to three years. France and the Netherlands led investments.
WindEurope chief policy officer Pierre Tardieu said: “It was a good start to the year for offshore wind growth. But onshore wind installations were poor these past six months.
“Germany had the lowest first half of the year for new onshore wind installations since 2000. Permitting challenges remain the key bottleneck: 11 GW of onshore wind are stuck in the permitting process in Germany.
“And the transition to auctions, where so-called ‘community projects’ were allowed to bid in auctions without a permit back in 2017, has been messy. Many of these projects still need to be built.”
With France, Spain, Norway and Sweden will now have to help pick up the slack in the second half of the year, said Tardieu.
“The EU has set a renewable energy target of 32% for 2030 and is talking about a net zero economy by 2050. The rate of installations we’ve seen so far this year won’t get us there,” he added.