Published on 26 February 2026
Overview
Europe now has 304 GW of wind power capacity, 265 GW onshore and 39 GW offshore. The EU-27 accounts for 246 GW of the total installed capacity, 224.5 GW onshore and 21.5 GW offshore.
We expect Europe to install 151 GW of new wind power capacity over 2026-2030. The EU-27 should install 112 GW of this – 22 GW a year on average. This would bring total installations in Europe and the EU to 439 GW and 343 GW respectively by 2030.
Findings
Europe installed 19.1 GW of new wind capacity in 2025 (gross installations). Onshore wind made up 90% of new installations for a total of 17.2 GW. The EU-27 installed 15.1 GW of new capacity. 94% of this was onshore (14.2 GW).
Germany built the most new capacity last year (5.7 GW), thanks to its ongoing onshore wind expansion (5.2 GW). After Germany, Türkiye (2.1 GW) and Sweden (1.8 GW) built the most new capacity, all onshore.
The capital raised for new wind projects in Europe was €45bn in 2025. This financed 20.9 GW of new capacity which will be installed over the next few years.
Denmark had the highest share of wind in their electricity mix with 50%. Lithuania (33%), Ireland (33%), the UK (31%), Sweden (30%), were the other countries where the share of wind in the electricity mixed at least 30%. Wind met at least 20% of electricity demand in another six countries, the Netherlands (29%), Germany (28%), Finland (25%), Portugal (25%), Spain (23%) and Greece (21%).
We anticipate installations over 2026-2030 to take the EU to 343 GW and Europe to 439 GW of total installed capacity by 2030.
The wind energy sector currently employs nearly 443,000 people both directly and indirectly. But this figure is expected to reach 607,000 by 2030.
