China and India lead Global Wind Surge as 165 GW of wind capacity was added in 2025: Report
Asia commissioned 80% of the global total of new wind capacity — 131 GW
With 28,395 wind turbines installed across 57 countries, a record addition of 165 GW was achieved in 2025.
Visual Credits: Wikimedia Commons
While the war wages on in West Asia and fossil fuel supply chains are hit globally, renewable energy is rising steadily. According to the Global Wind Report 2026, released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), global wind capacity reached 1,299 GW by the end of 2025.
Currently, 138 countries power their economies with wind. Asia commissioned 80% of the global total of new wind capacity — 131 GW. This was led by China, which added more than 120 GW. India doubled its annual installations to build 6.3 GW of wind capacity last year, found the report.
In the rest of the world, Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East also installed significant volumes of new wind projects. With 28,395 wind turbines installed across 57 countries, a record addition of 165 GW was achieved in 2025 — up by almost 40% compared to last year, according to the report.
India’s concentrated efforts
In India, new onshore wind capacity installed in 2025 led to an 85% increase over the previous year. This surge was driven by the government’s ambitious target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, of which 100 GW is earmarked for wind.
India’s momentum is supported by a robust domestic manufacturing base and new policy enablers, such as the inclusion of wind in the National Manufacturing Mandate and customs duty extensions on key components like forged steel rings. The report anticipated that India will add over 40 GW of new onshore capacity through 2030, bolstered by hybrid projects and the repowering of older wind farms in coastal states like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
China continues to operate on a different scale entirely. It installed nearly 120 GW in 2025 — almost matching the entire world’s total additions from the previous year. China now accounts for 73% of all global onshore installations and has surpassed 640 GW in cumulative capacity.
The report found that wind now competes directly with coal power prices in China. Under its latest commitments, China aims for 3.6 TW of combined wind and solar by 2035, making annual wind installations of over 100 GW the new norm.
“A 40% phenomenal growth across 138 countries demonstrates the accelerating role of wind in the global energy transition. The top five markets – China, the United States, India, Germany and Brazil – accounted for 86% of new capacity additions in 2025 reflecting a powerful convergence of policy alignment, scale and investment. These markets also represent nearly 75% of the world’s total installed wind capacity, reinforcing their leadership in shaping the future of the sector. With this sustained momentum, we are firmly on track to potentially surpass wind’s global potential of 2 TW by 2030,” said Girish Tanti, Vice Chairman of Suzlon Group and Vice Chair of GWEC.
Wind-driven economies
According to the report, in Europe, total installed wind power capacity passed the 300 GW threshold. The continent installed its second highest volume of new wind capacity, at 19.1 GW (up 16% on the previous year), driven in part by strong growth in Germany and Turkey.
In other parts of the world, the Philippines removed foreign ownership restrictions and streamlined offshore wind permitting, while Vietnam is expected to become Asia’s third-largest market by 2030, with a forecast of 20.5 GW in total capacity.
Countries like Germany added 5.7 GW; Brazil 2.3 GW, while Sweden, Spain, Saudi Arabia, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Chile and Finland commissioned over 1 GW of wind power in 2025.
“The steep increase we have seen in global wind installations sets a new benchmark for an industry which is rapidly accelerating and responding to heightened demand for homegrown, affordable and resilient renewable energy,” said Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC.
“At a time when skyrocketing oil and gas prices and supply shocks are once again causing disruption to economies around the world, the wind sector has demonstrated its ability to scale at speed. Accelerated growth led by Asia is enabling the rapid transition of fast-growing energy markets to electro-state economies, and showing that, where wind is built at scale, it can successfully compete with all alternatives, from coal to nuclear,” he added.