Brussels,

Wind Energy

The EU is committed to remaining a global leader in renewables. Wind power has been central to that leadership and will be critical for delivering the EU’s renewable energy targets and reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
European companies were among the first movers in wind, starting with the first offshore wind farm in Denmark (1991), and today the EU remains a global industrial hub for wind turbine components, foundations and cables.

88 000 New Wind Turbines Wanted in Europe - eEuropa Blog

The EU, a global leader on wind

• European companies cover 27% of the global market share for wind and lead the global offshore market with 58% of the total.
• Floating offshore wind is progressing through pilot projects, with deployment expected to accelerate toward the end of this decade.
• According to ETIP’s European Wind Energy Competitiveness Report 2025, the wind industry provided around 380,000 jobs in the EU in 2024, projected to increase to 936,000 by 2030 under REPowerEU targets.
  

EU Wind Power Package (October 2023)

To accelerate wind energy manufacturing and deployment across Europe, the Commission presented the EU Wind Power Package in October 2023. It consists of:

1. the European Wind Power Action Plan and
2. a communication on achieving the EU’s offshore wind ambitions.

1) European Wind Power Action Plan (COM/2023/669)

The Action Plan is built on 6 pillars: faster permitting and predictability, improved auction design, access to finance, a fair and competitive international environment, skills, industry engagement and Member State commitments.

• Official document: Action Plan – COM/2023/669.
• Following the plan, most EU countries and many industry representatives signed the European Wind Charter (19 December 2023): European Wind Charter (link section on the Commission page).
• 21 EU countries also submitted pledges on wind deployment volumes for at least 2024–2026: Wind pledges.
  

Examples of implemented actions (Commission tracking)

• Permitting: the EU Permitting Regulation was prolonged until June 2025, permitting recommendation/guidance were updated, guidance on Renewables Acceleration Areas was published, and the RES Auctions Platform was launched (May 2024).
• Auctions: a May 2024 recommendation/guidance to improve auction design.
• Finance: expanded options under the Innovation Fund (including wind manufacturing projects) and an EIB wind counter-guarantee tool (first operations with commercial banks signed in 2024).

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Key references:

• Permitting Regulation
• RES Auctions Platform (Union renewables development platform)

2) Offshore wind ambitions (COM/2023/668)

The Commission communication highlights the need to accelerate investment in offshore wind and ocean energies.

• Official document: COM/2023/668.

Key figures:

• EU offshore installed capacity is around 16.3 GW.
• To meet Member States’ commitments, average new offshore installations would need to rise to almost 12 GW per year, roughly 10× the 1.2 GW installed in 2022.

The communication identifies six priority areas:

1. stronger grid infrastructure & regional cooperation
2. faster permitting
3. integrated maritime spatial planning
4. resilience of infrastructure
5. sustained R&I
6. supply chains and skills
   

Renewables auctions platform (planned support & visibility)

Under the Renewable Energy Directive, EU countries must publish a long-term schedule of expected renewables support allocations covering at least 5 years ahead. The RES Auctions Platform (launched May 2024) centralises information on planned auctions across the EU (timing, frequency, volumes, budgets and eligible technologies), improving predictability and bankability for investors and manufacturers.

Platform: RES Auctions Platform

Wind power facts

Wind is a clean and abundant source used to generate electricity onshore and offshore. Improved turbine design and manufacturing have increased performance and reduced costs. The Commission notes that the average onshore wind turbine now generates enough electricity per year to power over 1,500 EU households, and newer models can supply more than three times as many.

According to Eurostat, wind accounted for 39.1% of renewable electricity generation in the EU in 2024.

Installed wind energy capacity (EU)

The Commission highlights steady growth in installed wind capacity, but also notes it is still not sufficient to meet 2030 energy and climate targets, hence the ramp-up commitments for onshore and offshore wind.
Installed capacity (as shown on the Commission page):

• 188 GW (2021)
• 204 GW (2022)
• 219 GW (2023)
  
  

More: 5 things you should know about wind energy