2030 wind targets may be at risk due to challenged supply chains — EnergyWatch

A challenged supply chain characterized by a ”race to the bottom” on prices could put the 2030 global wind capacity target in jeopardy, according to Recharge News.

The lobby organization Global Wind Energy Council, GWEC, has calculated that without improvement, a quarter, or 700 gigawatts, of installed capacity will be missing by the end of the decade to meet climate targets.

Wind is a key part of the plan that COP28 is expected to adopt to triple renewable energy capacity over the period, but the reality is that the deployment of new wind capacity ”lags far behind” the necessary levels.

The coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine have hit supply chains and the appetite to invest in increased capacity. At the same time, project developers are pushing hard to lower prices, especially in light of rising investment costs due to higher interest rates, while also aiming for bigger and bigger turbines, which increases technical risks.

”Market design and policy frameworks that focus primarily on the cost of energy have inadvertently led to very small or negative margins, while failing to account for higher financing and material costs, making supply chain investments unsustainable,” says GWEC.