As China surges, South Africa’s wind footprint breaches 1 GW mark
South Africa increased its installed wind-energy capacity to above 1 GW last year, new Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) figures show, making it the largest wind-energy producer in Africa, followed by Morocco, whose installed capacity stood at 787 MW in 2015.
South Africa’s wind growth has been stimulated primarily by government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, through which 6 300 MW of renewable-energy capacity has been procured since 2011. Prices for wind have also fallen from R142c/kWh in the first bid window in 2011, to 65c/kWh in the fourth bid window.
GWEC reports that the country installed 483 MW in 2015, helping to raise the installed capacity of the Africa and Middle East region to nearly 3 300 MW.
However, the story of 2015 was the surge in Chinese installations, with an “astonishing” 30.5 GW added in the year, raising the total global wind capacity installed last year to 63 GW, a year-on-year market growth of 22%.
China also moved past the European Union (EU) as the leading wind market, with 145.1 GW installed compared with the EU's 141.6 GW.
“The Chinese government's drive for clean energy, supported by continuous policy improvement, is motivated by the need to reduce dependence on coal which is the main source of the choking smog strangling China's major cities, as well as growing concern over climate change,” GWEC said.
Total global capacity reached 432.4 GW at the end of 2015, representing cumulative growth of 17%.
"Wind power is leading the charge in the transition away from fossil fuels,” GWEC secretary-general Steve Sawyer enthused, adding that new markets were opening up across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"2015 was a big year for the big markets – China, the US, Germany and Brazil, all set new records,” Sawyer added. "But there is a lot of activity in new markets around the world and I think in 2016 we'll see a broader distribution.”
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation