Wind energy continues to strengthen Europe’s industrial competitiveness and energy security. In 2025 Europe built 19 GW of new wind energy capacity. Europe also invested €45bn in additional wind energy projects to be built over the next years. But political considerations to reform the EU electricity market design and to renegotiate the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) threaten to undermine the progress made in 2025.
Europe built 19.1 GW of new wind power capacity in 2025, bringing its total wind energy capacity to 304 GW. That’s according to WindEurope’s Annual Statistics Report published.
“Europe’s wind industry is stepping up to the task. In 2025 the industry invested €45bn to make Europe more competitive and secure. But politicians considering to tamper with the EU electricity market design and the architecture of the EU ETS directly undermine these investments. Changing the rules of the game now would be waving goodbye to competitiveness and energy security”, says WindEurope CEO Tinne van der Straeten.
Germany built most new capacity (5.2 GW), followed by Türkiye (2.1 GW), Sweden (1.8 GW) and Spain (1.6 GW).
Onshore wind remained the driving force behind last year’s expansion with 90% of all new capacity being installed on land. 2025 marked a record year with more than 17 GW of new onshore wind capacity added. Repowering accounted for 2 GW of this figure. Onshore wind installations were fairly spread across Europe with 9 countries installing more than 500 MW.
Lithuania stood out, installing 759 MW to increase its total capacity by over 40%. Wind covered 33% of Lithuania’s electricity demand in 2025, empowering the Baltic country at the front line with Russia to decouple from Russia’s power grid and be less dependant on Russian fossil fuel imports.
Over the same period Europe connected 2 GW of new offshore wind capacity to the grid, the lowest installation figure since 2016. This is in part due to delays in construction. We expect a catch-up effect in 2026. Only three countries connected new offshore wind turbines: the UK, Germany and France.
