US Q1 wind installations surge as Covid-19 fogs 2020 outlook
The pandemic could undermine project construction and development activity that totaled 44.4GW at the end of March
US first quarter wind installations totaled a 1.82GW, the best result for the period since 2017, with robust project construction and development activity at the end of March under increasing risk from intensifying Covid-19 impacts, according to the latest industry report by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
Developers commissioned 11 new projects in six states – all onshore - led by Texas (540MW), Iowa (461MW) and Illinois (308MW), raising the national total to 107.4GW. Six projects totaling 390MW were also re-powered. Total new capacity was up 117% from a year earlier.
Texas continues as the US industry heavyweight with 29.4GW of installed wind power capacity, almost triple number two Iowa (10.6GW. ERCOT, which serves 90% of the state’s electric load, has more wind on its grid than any other nationwide.
On 31 March, there was a record 24.69GW of wind power capacity under construction with an additional 19.75GW in advanced development. The combined 44.44GW represented a 14% year-on-year increase. There were 14 states with more than 1GW in their near-term project pipelines.
How much of that amount will get built is unclear with the industry “experiencing Covid-19 related setbacks and uncertainty throughout the project development and construction process,” the report said.
Among the challenges are supply chain disruptions and delivery schedule delays, transportation and workforce restrictions, financing uncertainty and availability of capital.
“The compounding impact of disruptions will remain unclear until social distancing and travel restrictions are lifted globally or a ‘new normal’ is established and production capacity and delivery timelines are updated accordingly,” the report added.
AWEA earlier estimated coronavirus impacts have put 25GW in project investments worth $35bn at risk, plus 35,000 of 120,000 industry jobs.
For now, private consultancies are less bearish. BloombergNEF, for example, is forecasting 11.1GW in 2020 US installations, down from 13.5GW before the pandemic, which would be the industry’s second best year after 2012. New capacity was 9.14GW in 2019.
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