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According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), 51.3 GW of new wind capacity was commissioned in 2018, of which 46.8 GW onshore and 4.5 GW offshore. The top five onshore markets that led the growth were China (+21 GW), the United States (+7.6 GW), Germany (+2.4 GW), India (+2.2 GW) and Brazil (1.9 GW). Promising regions such as Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa also contributed to this figure and were responsible for 4.8 GW (10%) of new wind onshore installations in 2018. As for offshore wind, the main contributions were recorded in China (+1.8 GW), the United Kingdom (+1.3 GW), Germany (+1 GW) and Belgium (+0.3 GW).

The GWEC expects the global wind power capacity to increase by around 55 GW per year by 2023, i.e. an addition of around 300 GW by this date, as technology costs fall further and emerging markets drive the growth trend. The increasing competitiveness of offshore wind and the growth in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia will drive the wind power market, while mature regions such as Europe and the United States will continue to commission stable volumes by then. Much of this capacity is likely to be added in the form of auction and tender programmes. 

Japan’s largest thermal power generation company JERA, the joint venture (JV) of TEPCO and Chubu Electric, has announced plans to invest 70% of its investment budget for the next seven years on renewable energy and LNG projects. The renewable energy spendings will help boost its capacity from the current 650 MW to 5 GW by 2025 (up from a previous target of 3 GW).

The Pakistan Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) has approved proposals from the Ministry of Energy for all future renewable energy projects to be treated under the Renewable Energy Policy 2019. It has also outlined plans to boost the share of renewable energy (i.e.

Austrian power group Verbund has started to develop a pilot hydrogen project at the 838 MW Mellach gas-fired power plant in Austria, in a move to study the partial substitution of natural gas with hydrogen, thus marking a first for an industrial power plant.

Oman’s state-run oil and gas company Oman Oil and its partner Orpic Group have officially completed the US$2.7bn Sohar refinery improvement project (SRIP), which increased the total capacity of the Sohar refinery from 116,000 bbl/d to 198,000 bbl/d. The project adds five new units, including a crude distillation unit (CDU), a vacuum distillation unit (VDU), a delayed coker&nbsp…

The Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (SEWA) has awarded global turbine provider Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) an order for a gas turbine for a 1,026 MW CCGT power project in the coastal city of Layyah, Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) of Jordan has commissioned the 485 MW Zarqa CCGT power plant equipped with three units of GE’s 9E gas turbines. The project was developed by ACWA Power and SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction was in charge of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC).