Wind energy industry to power 3.3 million jobs in the next five years: GWEC

Asia to lead renewable energy sector employment by 2050.

The wind power industry is set to generate 3.3 million jobs globally in the next five years according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

In its latest report, wind power is set to deliver record growth of new installations over the next five years. 

After a historic 93 GW installation in 2020, installations were forecasted to decline in 2021 to 88 GW of new wind capacity continuing to decline in 2022. However forecasts see wind capacity soaring up to 112 GW in 2025.

“Over the next five years, wind energy will continue proving to be resilient with compound annual growth (CAGR) of 4 per cent. For offshore wind, annual installations are set to quadruple by 2025 with CAGR of 31.5% over the next five years,” GWEC said.

According to the Global Renewables Outlook: Energy Transformation 2050 by the  International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Asia is set to lead in renewables in energy sector employment by 2050.

A global survey in 2020 by GWEC said that there are 550,000 wind energy workers in China and 63,000 in India.

GWEC’s prediction comes at the back of expectations that wind energy will soon play a larger role in energy decarbonisation.

A study published in Nature Energy said that wind energy costs are declining which may result in additional focus to the value of wind in energy markets and to deployment barriers such as human-use conflicts, wildlife impacts and transmission needs.