Scaling up the use of offshore wind turbines

The demand for global electricity is expected to increase steeply in the coming years. In the worldwide quest for more renewable energy sources, the rapid development of offshore wind power suggests this power source will be crucial to meet climate and energy targets as well as play a major part in our sector’s future. The exponential growth of offshore wind energy can be attributed to several factors, including abundant space and greater, consistent wind resources, as well as technological advantages for offshore wind turbines with high availability and capacity factors.

2022 saw approximately 9 GW of offshore wind capacity being installed, bringing the global operational offshore wind capacity to around 64 GW. China again led the way in terms of installation installing with more than 50% of installations in 2022. Outside China, the UK was the largest market followed by Taiwan both installing approximately 1.2GW. Overall, China has the largest installed base with around 30 GW, followed by the UK with approximately 14 GW, and Germany in third place with about 8 GW installed.

This growth in offshore wind is predicted to significantly accelerate over the coming years, with a global outlook of approximately 350 GW cumulatively installed by 2030. This growth outlook is solidified by +50 GW of new capacity expected to be allocated over the next two years.

Innovative new ventures such as green hydrogen and floating offshore wind will help to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and allow the expansion of new markets previously limited by geographical conditions, indicating a bright future ahead of offshore wind.