By Anders Lorenzen
WindEurope, the industry interest group for the European wind power sector, is warning that the installation of new wind power capacity is stagnating.
The Brussels-based group released its 2025 wind energy data report last week. The report showed that in the first half of 2025, 6.8 gigawatts (GW) were installed across Europe, which was below wind power installation targets and the European Union (EU)’s energy security and climate targets.
WindEurope outlined that, apart from Germany, European countries were not doing enough to build new wind power capacity.
The group said that this was bad news for economic competitiveness on the continent.
Wind power in Europe: Germany in its own league
With Germany stubbornly prioritising renewable energy above fossil fuels and having completely phased out nuclear energy, though it still imports nuclear energy from its neighbouring countries, it is hungry for new renewable energy capacity. As a result, it is the country creating the most new wind power capacity in Europe.
In 2025, they’re on target to build 5 GW of onshore wind power, nearly tripling what they have built over the past five years and nearly as much as what was built in the EU in the first half of this year.
As a result of being the first country to implement new EU permitting rules, the country approved 15 GW of new onshore wind farms in 2024 and is on track to top that this year, having approved wind projects equal to 8 GW of installed capacity in the first half of 2025.
However, the story is somewhat different outside Germany, as they’re significantly behind Germany when it comes to permitting new projects.
WindEurope says that permitting is getting worse even in some countries, and it argues that countries’ energy policies are complicating the process and progress.
In addition to the permitting issues, the slow expansion of electricity grids is also holding back progress in Europe.
The key data
Of the 6.8 GW of newly created wind power capacity in the first half of 2025 in Europe, 5.3 GW was created inside the EU, and that vast majority of it, at 89% was onshore wind.
To sum up, Europea now has an installed wind power capacity of 291 GW, of which 254 GW is onshore and 37 GW offshore.
WindEurope: European governments need to get their act together
The CEO of WindEurope, Giles Dickson, had this message for European governments: “Governments must get their act together on wind energy. Wind is competitive – it brings down electricity costs for citizens and businesses. Wind is secure – home-grown wind turbines reduce costly and dangerous dependencies on fossil fuel imports. And wind is good for the economy – it creates jobs and tax income. Around 400,000 people in Europe work in wind already, and each new wind turbine contributes €16 million to Europe’s GDP. But Governments are still failing to get wind permits and built fast enough.”
The 2025 European wind power outlook revised
In its outlook at the beginning of this year, WindEurope expected 22.5 GW of new wind capacity to be added, but the group has now scaled this back to 19 GW, and in the EU from 17 GW to 14.5 GW.
The EU’s long-term outlook has been revised to 344 GW by 2030, split between 298 GW for onshore and 46 GW for offshore. This is well below the EU’s target of 425 GW.
Dickson added, “Less new wind is bad news for Europe’s wider competitiveness. Industry in Europe is craving cheap electricity to compete with China and the US. But too many Governments remain half-hearted in their expansion of wind. This is not only threatening the wind sector, it’s also jeopardising jobs and growth more widely.”
Optimism in the 2025 European wind outlook
However, WindEurope points out that it is not all bad news, and they can see optimism on the horizon. Even though new installations are falling short of expectations, wind turbine orders and investments in new wind farms are trending upwards. In the first half of 2025, at €34bn, Europe took more final investment decisions (FIDs) than in 2024 and financed 14 GW of new wind power capacity that should come online in the next couple of years. Additionally, Europe received 11.3 GW of wind turbine orders in the first half of 2025 – up 19% compared to the first half of 2024.
Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.
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