Collaboration is the Key

Why collaboration is key to scaling up wind energy

Collaboration is key if the world is to massively scale up wind energy in the coming years, Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council, tells Energy Monitor on Global Wind Day. By #Hannah Wright  15 Jun 2021

Governments can go further and act faster to reach ambitious wind expansion targets, insists Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), in conversation with #Energy Monitor. However, to overcome challenges facing the sector and the world more generally – not least the short window in which to bring extra wind power online and cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement – greater collaboration will be needed, he believes. “Nobody should be an island,” says Backwell.

The world must install new wind power capacity three times faster over the next decade to achieve global climate targets, according to a recent report from the GWEC. Is this really possible?

The challenges are enormous. The global technical potential from wind is enough to supply the world with power several times over, but you have to build it and finance it. The main constraint is time. We are confident we can scale up the industry to the right degree, but the question is whether we can do it by 2050 or 2030. The wind sector is working with substantial lead times.