Europe's power utilities generated a record of 193 TWh of electricity from wind farms in October to December 2023, compared with 184 TWh from coal-fired power plants, marking the first time that the clean energy overtakes power in electricity generation, showed data from think tank Ember.

Power output derived from wind during the final quarter of 2023 was roughly 20% higher than the same quarter in 2022, and came despite multiple downsides for the capacity installations in 2023 such as high costs for labor, materials and financing.

Around late 2023, European lawmakers had reached agreements over new policy supports for the secotor, including financing for turbine manufacturers and shorter permitting times for developers, which are expected to help further boost regional wind generation in 2024, and may potentially widen wind power's lead over coal going forward.

Key markets such as Germany, the U.K., Spain, France and Denmark are expected to ratchet up wind power project construction and grid connection in 2024, in spite of industrial consumption and activity.

In addition, several governments also plan to issue tenders to new wind capacity in 2024 in the wake of the regional European Union policy agreements sealed last year following setbacks for wind sector business.

Germany plans a tender for 8 GW of new offshore capacity, while Denmark is expected to begin auctions for a total of 9 GW of offshore projects.

France will boost its wind power footprint over the coming year or so through the support of the construction of two floating wind farms with a collective capacity of up to 280 MW.

With these and other projects come online, they will further lift Europe's total wind generation beyond the 604 TWh produced in 2023.

(Writing by Rebecca Liu  Editing by Harry Huo)
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