Europe saw 19 billion euros of new wind farm investments in 2019, according to data published by WindEurope.
Additional 33 billion euros was invested in the refinancing of wind farms, the acquisitions of wind farm projects and other transactions. Most of the investments in new wind farms were in onshore wind with 13 billion euros. This covered over 10 GW of new projects, showing continued strong interest in Europe for the development of onshore wind farms.
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said that governments and investors continue to have strong interest in onshore wind in most of Europe because it is the cheapest form of new electricity generation capacity. The latest auctions in Poland, Denmark, Greece, France, Italy and Lithuania all testify to the strong support for onshore wind and competitive prices.
WindEurope report also takes a closer look at the diverse investors involved in wind energy financing. Banks play an increasing role extending over 20 billion euros of non-recourse debt in 2019 with loans secured by collateral, usually property. The importance of non-recourse debt continues to grow. It now accounts for 49 % of all investment in new onshore wind projects and 77 % of all investment in new offshore wind farms.
