Industry organisation the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has launched its Wind Action Plan to accelerate wind energy deployment and strengthen energy resilience.

GWEC calls for governments to fast-track shovel-ready wind projects for construction to diversify power sources and strengthen energy security, in the same way that green recovery plans were announced after the Covid-19 pandemic and invasion of Ukraine.

The action plan calls on countries to review their exposure to future fossil fuel price shocks, and for governments to implement policy packages to scale up the deployment of homegrown and affordable wind energy at unprecedented speed.

“We need to break the cycle of energy crises. Economies built around homegrown wind and renewable energy benefit from long-term, low-cost price certainty.

“The Wind Action Plan provides a clear pathway for countries to accelerate the deployment of ready-to-build wind projects and ensure national economies are much better insulated from future crises linked to fossil fuels,” says GWEC CEO Ben Backwell.

The GWEC Wind Action Plan urges fast-tracking permitting, removing grid and storage bottlenecks, mobilising financing, greater electrification and scaling supply chains.

The plan is aligned with the Renewables Action Plan that was launched in tandem with renewable energy sector organisation the Global Renewables Alliance (GRA). The GWEC is one of the founding members of the GRA.

Governments can shield themselves from the volatility and conflict linked to fossil fuels by seizing the opportunities to act in the next 12 months, while building a foundation for secure, lasting growth, the GWEC says.

Specifically, the plan calls for regulatory approvals to be accelerated by streamlining permitting and consenting procedures for wind, other renewable-energy and storage projects to deliver a major expansion of capacity within the next 36 months.

Additionally, to address grid and storage blockers, the Wind Action Plan calls for the expansion, modernisation and optimisation of electricity grids and storage systems to integrate new wind capacity.

Significantly shortening grid connection queues and accelerating grid access by guaranteeing priority dispatch for wind and other renewables is necessary, it says.

It also calls for a swift move to electrification. It calls on governments to introduce and implement national strategies to reduce fossil fuel dependence by accelerating end-use electrification and system integration across transport, heating and industry, supported by flexibility markets, demand response and short- and long-duration energy storage.

The Wind Action Plan also calls for supply chains to be scaled up.

Governments should develop robust industrial strategies for supply chain development with clear milestones to expand renewable, grid and storage deployment and stockpiling.

They should also create clear demand signals and offtake frameworks, increase pipeline visibility, and generate long-term revenue certainty, to promote necessary investments in critical manufacturing and labour force capacity, the GWEC calls for in the plan.

Further, to unlock and derisk public and private investment for wind and other renewable-energy projects and associated infrastructure, the GWEC's plan calls for preferential interest rates and financing, decreasing financial institution lending limits, creating renewable lending windows and redirecting capital away from carbon-intensive industries.