Results of IEA Wind TCP Workshop on a Grand Vision for Wind Energy Technology

Abstract

The wind industry has realized substantial growth reaching over 500 gigawatts (0.5 terawatts) of installed capacity in 2017 (Global Wind Energy Council 2018) and producing about 5% of global electricity demand in 2016 (Wiser and Bolinger 2018). The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for wind energy projects both on land and offshore has fallen as a result of substantial innovation over the last several decades. More specifically, equipment, installation, and operation costs have decreased while energy production per turbine has increased (Wiser et al. 2016). At the same time as LCOE has been decreasing, integration challenges in the broader electric system have been successfully addressed in many markets, thereby enabling the level of wind energy generation to grow to more than 10% of electricity consumption in at least eight countries around the world and more than 30% in Portugal and Denmark (Wiser and Bolinger 2018).