Gitnux/Report 2026

Wind Energy Statistics

Wind momentum is unmistakable with 197 GW added globally to reach about 1,067 GW total installed capacity by the end of 2023, while the biggest share of new builds still sits with China at roughly 48%. Track how wind went from supplying 10.6% of EU electricity to national shares like 32% in Ireland and then follow through to performance and finance signals that shape what gets built next.
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June 22, 2026Updated
Wind Energy Statistics
Nathan CaldwellWritten by Nathan Caldwell·Edited by Margot Villeneuve·Fact-checked by Nikolas Papadopoulos
Published ·Updated
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Wind added 197 GW of capacity globally in 2023, bringing total installed wind power to about 1,067 GW by year end. In the European Union, wind generated roughly 1,050 TWh and supplied 10.6% of electricity. Output varies by region and weather, so curtailment and reliability planning determine how much capacity additions translate into delivered power.

Key Takeaways

  • 197 GW of wind power capacity was added globally in 2023, reaching about 1,067 GW total installed wind capacity
  • 1,067 GW of wind power capacity was installed globally by end of 2023 (Global Wind Power Tracker total installed)
  • 53 GW of wind power capacity was added in the United States in 2023
  • Wind provided 10.6% of electricity generation in the European Union in 2023
  • Wind generation in the European Union reached about 1,050 TWh in 2023
  • The International Energy Agency estimated wind and solar would supply 80% of new power generation capacity globally by 2026
  • In the NREL 2012 wind resource report example, mean wind speeds of 7 m/s at 80 m correspond to higher annual capacity factors than low-wind sites (resource-to-performance mapping)
  • Wind turbine rotor blades can be over 100 meters long; modern utility-scale turbines often use rotor diameters in excess of 100 m (IEA Wind turbine technology description)
  • Modern onshore turbines commonly have rated power capacities of 2 MW to 4 MW (IEA wind turbine technology ranges)
  • Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from wind power are typically around 10–20 gCO2e/kWh (IPCC AR6 WGIII summary of lifecycle emissions ranges)
  • Wind electricity lifecycle emissions average around 11 gCO2e/kWh in the IPCC AR6 datasets (wind lifecycle emissions range/representative values)
  • In 2023, the average U.S. wind project interconnection queue size exceeded 100 GW of wind (FERC interconnection queue metrics)

Global wind additions surged in 2023, adding 197 GW and reaching about 1,067 GW total.

Related reading

01 · Category

Market Size26 stats

01
197 GW of wind power capacity was added globally in 2023, reaching about 1,067 GW total installed wind capacityhttps://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
02
1,067 GW of wind power capacity was installed globally by end of 2023 (Global Wind Power Tracker total installed)https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
03
53 GW of wind power capacity was added in the United States in 2023https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=62179
04
The United States added 14.3 GW of wind capacity in 2022https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=51299
05
Wind added 18.2 GW of new capacity in China in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
06
China accounted for about 48% of global wind capacity additions in 2023 (Global Wind Power Tracker)https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
07
India added 6.8 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
08
Brazil added 2.1 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
09
Canada added 1.2 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
10
Japan added 0.3 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
11
Australia added 1.2 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
12
South Africa added 0.6 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
13
Mexico added 0.4 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
14
Turkey added 1.6 GW of wind power capacity in 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
15
Germany had 61.5 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
16
United Kingdom had 26.0 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
17
France had 24.2 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
18
Spain had 31.0 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
19
Italy had 11.5 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
20
Sweden had 13.5 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
21
Poland had 8.7 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
22
Turkey had 9.7 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
23
Canada had 14.0 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
24
Brazil had 26.7 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
25
India had 45.2 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
26
Australia had 8.3 GW of installed wind power capacity by end of 2023https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/global-wind-power-tracker/
Interpretation

Market Size Interpretation

In 2023 the world added 197 GW of wind power, bringing total installed capacity to about 1,067 GW, with China supplying roughly 48% of new additions and the United States adding 53 GW.

More related reading

03 · Category

Performance Metrics13 stats

01
In the NREL 2012 wind resource report example, mean wind speeds of 7 m/s at 80 m correspond to higher annual capacity factors than low-wind sites (resource-to-performance mapping)https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53430.pdf
02
Wind turbine rotor blades can be over 100 meters long; modern utility-scale turbines often use rotor diameters in excess of 100 m (IEA Wind turbine technology description)https://www.iea.org/reports/wind
03
Modern onshore turbines commonly have rated power capacities of 2 MW to 4 MW (IEA wind turbine technology ranges)https://www.iea.org/reports/wind
04
Large offshore turbines commonly have rated capacities of 6 MW to 15 MW (IEA offshore technology ranges)https://www.iea.org/reports/wind
05
Wind power’s intermittency means output varies with wind speeds rather than demand (EIA on wind variability)https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/wind/
06
The U.S. wind fleet’s average capacity factor in 2022 was about 34% (EIA wind capacity factor analysis table)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/
07
The U.S. wind fleet’s average capacity factor in 2021 was about 35% (EIA electricity data browser with wind capacity factor series)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/
08
The U.S. wind fleet’s average capacity factor in 2020 was about 33% (EIA series by year)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/
09
Wind energy is typically dispatched subject to wind availability; curtailment reduces actual generation compared with forecast (EIA wind curtailment overview)https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42053
10
The share of U.S. wind generation curtailed was 1% in 2022 (EIA wind curtailment statistic in grid/curtailment analysis)https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64919
11
NREL reports that wind turbine design lifetimes are commonly 20 years (NREL balance of plant/lifetime standards discussion)https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/65366.pdf
12
Wind turbine availability can be above 95% for well-maintained fleets in some industry measurements (NREL availability discussion)https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53732.pdf
13
Offshore wind projects are typically designed with an availability around mid-90% in performance models (DNV offshore wind O&M benchmarking study)https://www.dnv.com/news/offshore-wind-availability-further-improves.html
Interpretation

Performance Metrics Interpretation

Across recent years the U.S. wind fleet has held capacity factors in the low to mid 30s, around 33% to 35%, while curtailment has remained very small at about 1% in 2022, showing strong real world performance from large modern turbines and consistent resource driven output.

04 · Category

Cost Analysis14 stats

01
Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from wind power are typically around 10–20 gCO2e/kWh (IPCC AR6 WGIII summary of lifecycle emissions ranges)https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/
02
Wind electricity lifecycle emissions average around 11 gCO2e/kWh in the IPCC AR6 datasets (wind lifecycle emissions range/representative values)https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/
03
In 2023, the average U.S. wind project interconnection queue size exceeded 100 GW of wind (FERC interconnection queue metrics)https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/electric/power-sales-and-transportation/interconnection-queue
04
The U.S. interconnection queue contained over 1,000 GW of capacity in total across all technologies (FERC queue dashboard summary)https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/electric/power-sales-and-transportation/interconnection-queue
05
The European Investment Bank/Climate Bank Roadmap documents that offshore wind contracts have cleared at lower levels over time, with some bids under €60/MWh in recent tenders (IEA/EBRD tender benchmark)https://www.iea.org/reports/offshore-wind-outlook-2019
06
BNEF reported that global wind and solar LCOE fell substantially over 2010–2022; by 2022, onshore wind LCOE averaged about $40/MWh to $50/MWh in many regions (BNEF reports summarized in external sources may be hard; use direct BNEF may be paywalled)https://about.bnef.com/blog/energy-transition-investment-review-2023-its-not-just-capacity/
07
The global weighted-average cost of debt for renewable project finance is often around single-digit percentages (IEA/IRENA financing cost discussion: use IEA Renewable financing chapters)https://www.irena.org/Publications/2021/Jun/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2020
08
IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs (2023) reports onshore wind average LCOE around $0.04–$0.06/kWh in many markets for 2022/2023 scenarios (IRENA LCOE tables)https://www.irena.org/Publications/2023/Jun/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2022
09
IRENA (Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2022) reports offshore wind LCOE generally higher than onshore, with median values often around $0.06–$0.12/kWh depending on region (offshore wind LCOE tables)https://www.irena.org/Publications/2023/Jun/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2022
10
IRENA reported that solar PV and wind have shown the largest cost declines among renewables over the last decade (IRENA cost trends for wind and solar)https://www.irena.org/publications/2021/Jun/renewable-power-generation-costs-in-2020
11
In IRENA cost trends, onshore wind LCOE declined by around 40% to 50% across multiple markets since ~2010 (IRENA onshore wind cost decrease statement)https://www.irena.org/publications/2021/Jun/renewable-power-generation-costs-in-2020
12
In IRENA, offshore wind costs declined significantly where supply chains and scale improved; some trajectories show declines of ~30% to 50% depending on region (IRENA offshore wind cost trend statement)https://www.irena.org/publications/2023/Jun/renewable-power-generation-costs-in-2022
13
The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated wind energy avoided emissions of about 1.5–2.0 GtCO2 per year globally (IRENA wind benefits/mitigation figures)https://www.irena.org/Publications/2019/Apr/Green-Power
14
IRENA’s environmental benefits assessments indicate substantial CO2 reductions from wind generation compared with fossil electricity (Green Power report)https://www.irena.org/Publications/2019/Apr/Green-Power
Interpretation

Cost Analysis Interpretation

Across global data, wind power lifecycle emissions stay low at roughly 10 to 20 gCO2e per kWh while costs have fallen sharply since about 2010, with onshore wind LCOE dropping around 40 to 50 percent and offshore often trending lower by about 30 to 50 percent as it scales, helping wind avoid roughly 1.5 to 2.0 GtCO2 each year worldwide.
Reference

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Nathan Caldwell. (2026, February 13). Wind Energy Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/wind-energy-statistics
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Nathan Caldwell. "Wind Energy Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/wind-energy-statistics.
Chicago
Nathan Caldwell. 2026. "Wind Energy Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/wind-energy-statistics.

Sources & references

26 datasets cited across this report

ember-climate.orgeia.goviea.orgnrel.govdnv.comipcc.chferc.govabout.bnef.comirena.org

+17 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)