Global report shows offshore wind sector has reached 23 GW capacity

In the first report of its kind by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the Global Offshore Wind Report has revealed a market now at 23 gigawatts — and with the potential to reach nearly 200 GW by 2030.

This advance has been fueled by an average 21 percent growth every year since 2013. The United Kingdom and Germany have both been indulging this market in recent years, but this past year marked the first time China has dominated the field in offshore wind production. Further, GWEC expects the Asian market to become the largest offshore region globally consistently.

“Based on government targets, auction results, and pipeline data we expect to see 190 GW of capacity to be installed by 2030, but this does not represent the full potential of offshore wind,” Karin Ohlenforst, director of market intelligence at GWEC, said. “Many new countries are preparing to join the offshore wind revolution while floating offshore wind represents a game-changing technological development that can add even more volumes in the years to come.”

For the immediate future, Europe is likely to flag a bit according to the report. Their market boasts few new projects reaching installation, leaving their figures flat. Meanwhile, in Asia, China is expected to dominate the offshore region, while Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, India, and South Korea are also expected to grow. The United States continues to trail behind in this market, though their first installation of large scale projects is expected between 2021 and 2023, bringing them to at least 2 GW by 2025. The United States has the potential to reach 10 GW by 2030, but by contrast, Europe could be at 78 GW by 2030, while the Asian region could reach 100 GW by 2030.

“New offshore markets represent significant potential, and if industry and governments can work together, as we have seen recently in the case of Taiwan, we can build the necessary policy frameworks at greater speed to ensure growth can be achieved sooner than later,” Alastair Dutton, chair of the Global Offshore Wind Task Force at GWEC, said.