Renewables, Turbines & Grids: What is Wind Energy?

Wind energy is the conversion of wind’s kinetic energy into mechanical or electrical energy using wind turbines. 

Because it is generated from a naturally occurring, self-replenishing source, wind power is considered renewable.

No emissions are produced during the generation of wind energy, but the life cycle of wind turbines themselves do have an impact on the environment. 

The state of wind energy so far

The world added a record 117 GW of new wind capacity in 2024, taking global cumulative wind capacity past 1,136 GW according to the Global Wind Energy Council. 

Total energy-related CO₂ emissions increased by 0.8% in 2024, hitting an all-time high of 37.8 Gt CO according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The increase was primarily fuelled by growing coal consumption in China, India and Southeast Asia, while demand declined in advanced economies, particularly in the United States and the European Union.

Despite record-breaking additions in solar PV and wind capacity, the growth of renewables could not keep pace with rising demand for energy.

IEA analysis found that clean energy growth, including wind, is key to limiting power-sector CO₂ emissions this decade.

Integrating wind energy

Integrating wind energy can face challenges while fossil fuels are still dominant in global energy systems. 

Connecting wind farms to the grid can be challenging, particularly when they are offshore with more than 100 kilometres of distance to land in some cases. 

Long transition lines are needed to connect these and bottlenecks can form in permitting and grid capacity that delay connections. 

Due to changing wind conditions, the supply of energy can be unpredictable which can increase the portion of power demand that needs to be met by other sources. 

Combining wind power with other energy sources, such as solar, can help smooth out overall energy production.

The Hollandse Kust Noord project

At the Hollandse Kust Noord project in the Netherlands, Shell and Eneco are piloting floating offshore solar, battery storage, wake-mitigation controls and offshore hydrogen electrolysis together. 

This could help to reduce the impacts of changing wind conditions on energy supply. 

Construction on the wind farm began in October 2022 and operations began in December 2023.

The project’s floating solar array was assembled in June 2025 and will be placed alongside the wind turbines to help provide more consistent energy. 

Batteries and an on-site hydrogen plant will be used to store energy in periods of high generation and low demand. 

Tackling turbine footprints

While wind turbines do not produce emissions during operation, their lifecycle does. 

Wind turbines can reach 250 meters in height with blades up to 150 meters long, making them difficult to both manufacture and transport.

Blades are often made from a mixture of materials including fibreglass, resin, iron and copper, so they can be difficult to recycle at end-of-life. 

RWE’s Kaskasi offshore wind farm in Germany hosted the first commercial turbines using Siemens Gamesa’s RecyclableBlade technology, enabling recovery of blade materials at end of life.

Marc Becker, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit, says: “We are proving that as the leaders of the offshore revolution, we are committed to making disruptive technology innovation commercially viable with the pace that the climate emergency demands.

“This milestone marks a significant contribution to Siemens Gamesa’s target of having fully recyclable turbines by 2040. 

“With RecyclableBlade available for our customers, we can create a virtuous circular economy.” 

Putting wind energy to use

Corporate clean-power buying hit a record 46 GW of wind and solar PPAs in 2023, with big tech among the leading buyers according to BloombergNEF.

Google aims to run its operations on carbon-free energy every hour of every day by 2030.

Since 2010, the company has signed more than 170 agreements to purchase more than 22 GW of clean energy worldwide and invested more than US$3.7bn in clean energy projects and partnerships. 

AES partnered with Google to develop a first-of-its-kind 24/7 carbon-free energy solution to supply Google’s Virginia data centre campus.

The company developed grid virtualisation technologies to build a modern, accessible, affordable and green grid that facilitates decarbonisation while improving efficiency and reliability for Google. 

This helps to predict and plan for weather events and optimise the grid for renewables. 

Michael Terrell, Senior Director for Energy and Climate at Google, says: “Not only is this partnership with AES an important step towards achieving Google’s 24/7 carbon-free energy goal, it also lays a blueprint for other companies.”