Global Wind Day 2017: Discover the power of wind energy

Global Wind Day is observed across the world every year on the 15 June to raise awareness of the role of wind power in reshaping our energy systems, decarbonising our economies and boosting growth and jobs.

Global Wind Day is a coordinated action between WindEurope and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in addition to a number of national associations, which seeks to introduce people to the power of wind energy and its numerous benefits.

In the EU alone, the wind industry installed more than gas and coal combined last year with enough cumulative installed capacity to meet 11.4 per cent of the region’s electricity demand, enough energy to power 87 million households.

In 2016, wind accounted for 44 per cent of all new power installations in Europe and, today, onshore wind energy is the continent’s cheapest form of new power generation.

By 2030, wind could serve a quarter of the European Union’s electricity needs and be the backbone of Europe’s energy system, according to WindEurope.

Wind power generating capacity is also making strides on the global scale.

A report issued by the GWEC earlier this year, detailed that more than 54 gigawatts (GW) of wind power were installed in 2016.

This 54 GW was spread across 90 countries, of which nine have now surpassed the 10 GW milestone and 29 the 1 GW mark.

GWEC’s rolling five year forecast sees nearly 60 GW of new wind installations this year, rising to an annual market of about 75 GW by 2021 – bringing cumulative installed capacity to over 800 GW by the end of 2021.

The wind sector is also providing an increasing number of jobs in countries across the world.

According to figures released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the U.S. wind energy sector added jobs more than nine times faster than the overall U.S. economy last year – with a total of 102,500 people now working in the industry.

In the run-up to Global Wind Day 2017, hundreds of public events will be held all over the world from family outings and wind farm visits to seminars with experts and leading industry figures.

You can register your own event by listing it on the official Global Wind Day website here.

In the run-up to 15 June, GWEC and WindEurope have also launched a Global Photo Competition ‘Capture the power of wind’.

Winners for all competition categories will be announced this Global Wind Day, on Thursday 15 June.

For more information on how to get involved visit: www.globalwindday.org