Spain has been the European market with the highest activity in the acquisition of onshore wind power projects and installations, with 2,500 million euros for a total of 2.4 GW of wind power.
European wind invested 43 billion euros in 2020, covering 20 GW of power for new wind farms to be built in the coming years, 13 GW of them in the EU. This investment figure is the second highest annual amount on record and 70% more than in 2019, according to a report presented today by WindEurope, the European wind energy association.
Spain is the seventh country in investments in 2020 in wind power projects. The UK was the largest investor in 2020, contributing € 13.5 billion of the total € 43 billion. It is followed by the Netherlands, with about 8,000 million euros; France (6,500 million euros) and Germany (4,300 million euros). These last two countries were the countries that invested the most in offshore wind energy. Turkey was the fifth largest investor, with 1.6 billion euros, and Poland the sixth with the same amount. Spain appears in seventh place, with 1,500
million euros of investment to finance 1.5 GW.
Spain consolidates itself as a powerful market in onshore wind power in the coming years. The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) has a target of 50.3 GW of wind power in 2030. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to install wind power at a constant and stable rate of 2.2 GW per year, with mechanisms that allow to watch over the value chain of our country.
For Juan Virgilio Márquez, CEO of the Wind Energy Business Association (AEE): “As at the European level, investments in wind energy in Spain, although significant, are still below the annual rate necessary to guarantee the achievement of the objectives of the PNIEC for 2030, 32% lower than the annual volume necessary to achieve them. Part of the solution would be to increase the quotas for wind power in the next auctions, bringing them closer to the industrial production capacity that our country has, while continuing to formalize PPAs “.
Regarding the activity of project acquisitions at the European level, in 2020 it amounted to 15,100 million euros, a figure lower than the two previous years (17,500 million euros and 19,600 million euros in 2019 and 2018 respectively). However, given these lower numbers, equity investments were quick to rebound after the initial shock caused by the COVID19 pandemic. Spain was the European market with the highest acquisition activity for onshore wind power projects and installations, with 2,500 million euros for a total of 2.4 GW of wind power.
Of the 43,000 million euros of investment in 2020, 17,000 went to onshore wind projects, covering 13 GW of new capacity, and 26,000 million went to offshore wind energy, covering 7 GW of new capacity. WindEurope warns that the 13 GW of new power invested in the EU is not enough to meet climate and energy targets by 2030. The EU needs to build 27 GW of new wind power per year to meet its new 55% emission reduction target . The main problem is the slowness in the administrative processing of the wind farms.
Wind farms continue to be financed with 70-90% debt and 10-30% equity. Bank financing remains crucial. Banks lent a record € 21 billion of non-recourse debt to new wind farms in 2020.
