Publish Time: 2025-02-20 Origin: Site
Overview of the Global Offshore Wind Power Market
In 2022, the global offshore wind power installed capacity reached 64.3 GW, accounting for 7.1% of the total global wind power capacity. The newly installed offshore wind capacity was 8.8 GW, representing a year-on-year growth of 16%.
In the Asia-Pacific region, influenced by grid parity policies, China's newly installed offshore wind capacity dropped from 21 GW in 2021 to 5 GW in 2022. However, China continued to lead global offshore wind power development.
In Europe, 2.5 GW of offshore wind capacity was connected to the grid in 2022. Although the wind power installation rate in Europe was at its lowest level since 2016, the total offshore wind capacity reached 30 GW. The UK accounted for 46% of Europe’s offshore wind capacity, further strengthening its leading position in the European offshore wind market. Meanwhile, France and Italy launched their first commercial offshore wind projects.
With offshore wind capacity in the Asia-Pacific region reaching 34 GW in 2022, Europe was no longer the world's largest offshore wind market. Nevertheless, Europe remained at the forefront of the floating wind power sector. Norway added 60 MW of floating wind capacity in 2022, bringing Europe's total floating wind capacity to 171 MW, which accounted for 91% of the global floating wind market. In contrast, the Asia-Pacific region had 16.7 MW of floating wind capacity, representing 9% of the global market share.
Beyond Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, as of the end of 2022, North America had 42 MW of offshore wind capacity connected to the grid, accounting for just 0.1% of the global offshore wind capacity.
Progress of Offshore Wind-Related Industries
Floating Wind Power
Currently, floating wind power is rapidly expanding its commercial scale worldwide. The Global Wind Energy Council predicts that by 2030, global floating wind capacity will reach 10.9 GW.
China is actively engaged in the research and development of floating wind power. The 4 MW demonstration project at Nanri Island, Fujian, and the 16.6 MW Nezzy2 twin-turbine demonstration project by Mingyang Smart Energy are set to begin construction. Additionally, PowerChina's two 100 MW PFS-1 projects are about to be launched in Wanning, Hainan. Once operational, this project is expected to become the world’s largest offshore floating wind farm.
Over the next two years, France is also set to become one of the most active floating wind markets, with three 85 MW projects under construction. Furthermore, the French government is actively advancing the completion of floating wind lease agreements totaling 2 GW.
The UK is preparing a series of floating wind projects, including the 96 MW TotalEnergies/Simply Blue Erebus project, the 70 MW EdF/TNB Blyth demonstration project, and the 100 MW CIP/Hexicon Pentland project.
South Korea has 14 projects with a total installed capacity exceeding 7 GW that have obtained Electricity Business Licenses (EBL) and signed agreements, with 13 of them located in Ulsan. Additionally, 11.9 GW of projects are being developed along South Korea’s coastline.
In the U.S., the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held an auction for floating wind development sites in California in December 2022, awarding leases totaling 8.1 GW across four locations.
Norway has recently initiated the bidding process for a 1.5 GW floating wind project at Utsira Nord, near Stavanger. The project is divided into three 500 MW sites, each with the potential to expand to 750 MW.
As of now, the UK, Norway, Portugal, China, and Japan are the top five markets for floating wind installations. By the end of 2030, South Korea is likely to surpass Japan and enter the top five. As floating wind power development accelerates, countries are increasingly investing in port infrastructure and supply chain development to meet the growing demand for construction and deployment.
Transmission Systems and Offshore Energy Islands
As offshore wind power development accelerates, challenges related to transmission systems are also increasing. Significant increases in public and private investment are needed in the fields of power transmission and grid management.
This year, Dutch state-owned grid operator TenneT announced the awarding of 11 North Sea offshore wind transmission contracts to two consortia, with a total value of $25 billion. These transmission projects aim to address energy security concerns in the Netherlands following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In May 2022, the heads of state of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium jointly signed the Esbjerg Declaration, reaching an agreement on offshore wind development. They committed to establishing 65 GW of offshore wind power capacity by 2030 and installing 10,000 wind turbines in the North Sea by 2050, alongside accelerating the construction of related transmission infrastructure.
In the UK, system operator NG-ESO is working with regulator Ofgem and the government to transition offshore wind transmission toward a meshed grid connection. The overall network design project is currently in the second phase of connection agreements.
The demand for new offshore wind hubs and gigawatt-scale wind farms has driven the development of energy islands, with the North Sea becoming a focal point of international attention. The Esbjerg Declaration includes a commitment to collaborating on offshore energy island development. Denmark and Belgium have already signed the first bilateral agreement to build the first 3 GW energy island by 2033, ensuring grid integration, and expanding its capacity to 10 GW by 2040. The declaration also pledges to establish a second energy island in the North Sea and further explore potential locations.
TenneT is researching how to integrate energy islands into its hub-and-spoke grid model, enabling multiple offshore wind farms to be interconnected and transmit electricity more efficiently.
In the long run, energy islands provide a practical pathway for Power-to-X (P2X) strategies, enabling the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives, such as ammonia and methanol.
Denmark’s Energy Agency (DEA) is leading the construction of the first energy island. The project follows a model in which private investors build the island and then sell 50.1% of the equity to the Danish government upon completion. Subsequently, they generate rental income from leasing offshore wind transmission land to Energinet (ENDK), Denmark’s transmission system operator.
Global Offshore Wind Market Outlook
The wind power industry is entering an unprecedented new stage of development, driven by the need to achieve climate goals while ensuring energy security and accessibility. Despite current global challenges such as inflation, rising capital costs, and supply chain disruptions, which have led some wind power project developers to cancel contracts, the long- and medium-term outlook for global offshore wind development remains optimistic.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31% for global offshore wind capacity by 2027, and 12% CAGR by 2032. It is expected that annual installed capacity will exceed 30 GW by 2026 and surpass 50 GW by 2030. Over the next decade (2023-2032), global offshore wind installations are projected to add more than 380 GW, bringing the global total offshore wind capacity to 447 GW by the end of 2032. However, influenced by the market environments in Europe and the U.S., it is expected that only one-third of the new installations will be completed between 2023 and 2027.
In terms of floating wind, although the global floating wind pipeline has doubled in the past year, the GWEC still predicts that offshore floating wind will not reach commercialization until 2030. Given the high costs of floating wind technology and the current global economic and financial challenges, infrastructure and port facilities needed for floating wind development may face supply chain bottlenecks. As a result, global floating wind capacity is expected to reach 10.9 GW by 2030, a 42% reduction from the previous year's forecast.