Europe installed 8.8 GW of new wind power capacity in the first half of 2026, a 30% increase on the same period a year earlier, putting the continent on course for a record year. The figures were published by the industry association WindEurope on 1 September in its Autumn Report.
WindEurope now expects 24 GW of new capacity to be commissioned across Europe by the end of 2026, helped by a high level of installation activity over the summer. The association describes the year as the start of a ramp-up towards consistently installing 30 GW a year in the 2030s. The turbines added in the first half can generate enough electricity for around 7 million European households.
Germany accounted for 3.4 GW of the first-half total, the largest share of any market. Installations were also significantly higher in Denmark, Poland, Portugal and France, and Ukraine added more than 400 MW despite the ongoing war.
Investment and auction volumes point the same way. According to the Autumn Report, 9 billion euros was invested in new wind farms in the first six months of the year, and national governments awarded more than 17 GW of wind capacity at auction, with a further 26 GW due to be tendered in the second half. WindEurope said Europe has never auctioned more new wind capacity in a single year. It expects total installed capacity to reach 436 GW by 2030, of which 342 GW would sit in the EU and cover 27% of EU electricity demand.
Permitting remains the main constraint. Germany permitted more than 9 GW of new onshore wind in the first half of 2026 and is on track for another record year, but WindEurope described it as an outlier: permitting volumes fell in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Ireland.
“2026 may well be a record wind year. But we can’t take that momentum for granted,” said Tinne Van der Straeten, chief executive of WindEurope. “Just when we need wind the most to boost Europe’s economic resilience, permitting volumes are down in key markets. Government decisions on permitting, auctions, grids and electrification in the coming months will make or break this momentum.”
The association set out five requests for the EU and national governments: agree and implement EU permitting rules, close the EU grids package and clear grid connection queues, channel ETS revenues into industrial electrification through the Innovation Fund and the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, set a binding renewable energy target for 2040, and stop redesigning auctions, which WindEurope argues should settle on two-sided contracts for difference.
For the Baltic Sea region the numbers cut both ways. Germany, Denmark and Poland are among the markets driving the first-half increase, and the tender volumes scheduled for the rest of 2026 will shape how much of the 2030 total is built around the Baltic. The permitting and grid decisions WindEurope points to are the same ones that determine when Polish and German onshore projects reach construction, and when new offshore capacity finds a connection point.
