S&P: Third-quarter wind installations fall to 501 MW, lowest Q3 since 2015

Dive Brief:

Wind developers completed just three projects totaling 501 MW in the third quarter of 2022, according to data released Wednesday by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Activity in the wind sector declined to less than 1,000 MW of additions by the third quarter – the lowest third-quarter reported by the company since it began tracking installations in 2015 – from 2,786 MW in the first quarter.
The S&P analysis reflects broader trends reported in the third quarter Clean Power Market Report by the American Clean Power Association, which said wind installations fell 78% year-over-year.

Dive Insight:

Wind developers, perhaps more than most, are likely ready to bid 2022 adieu.

The 4.5 GW of wind projects completed so far in 2022 are equal to less than half of the wind capacity completed by this time last year, according to S&P. The quarter was so slow that a 6 MW wind farm build for Dole Fresh Vegetables in California was technically the third largest project completed.

The slow patch isn’t news to those in the sector. The latter part of 2022 was expected to be somewhat slower than 2021 as a result of commission cycles driven by a previously anticipated drawdown in tax credits for new wind projects. The record-setting deployments in 2021 also helped to create a gap in the overall project pipeline, according to the American Clean Power Association.

However, constraints in supply chains and interconnection processes also have caused significant delays, according to ACP. The association reports that 1.1 GW of land-based wind projects were originally slated for completion during the third quarter and that most of these projects are still in progress.

Land-based wind projects currently account for 23% of the 36.2 GW of projects delayed by various challenges, according to ACP’s latest tally. Some 3.5 GW of delayed clean energy projects have been canceled.

But while most announced projects have stayed the course for later completion, the delays do not appear to be inspiring a new round of commissions to fill the pipeline. S&P Global Market Intelligence reports that developers announced just two new wind projects during the third quarter of 2022.