Offshore wind hit a new record last year with year-on-year tripling of grid-connected power worldwide, totaling 21.1 gigawatts (GW), according to a Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) report on Wednesday.
The Global Offshore Wind Report 2021 showed that global cumulative offshore wind power capacity reached 56 GW with the additional 21.1GW of new installations.
This result shows a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 58%, representing 7% of total global cumulative wind installations.
GWEC Market Intelligence also forecasts that over 315 GW of new offshore wind capacity will be added over the next decade between 2022 and 2031, reaching 370 GW by the end of 2031.
- China leads in offshore wind
The report revealed that China is leading in new offshore wind installation, with the country contributing 80% of the the 21.1 GW in new offshore installations.
In addition to new capacity from Asia, Europe is the only region that reported new offshore wind installations last year, the report showed.
The UK had a record year last year with more than 2.3 GW reaching grid connection.
However, the UK lost its title as the world’s largest offshore wind market in total installations to China.
Denmark ranks second for new installations in Europe commissioned last year at 605 megawatts (MW), followed by the Netherlands with 392 MW and Norway with 3.6 MW.
Out of total installations, Europe remains the largest offshore wind regional market as of the end of 2021.
'The region was responsible for 50.4% of total cumulative global offshore wind installations, followed by Asia with a 49.5% market share,' the report said.
(Anadolu Agency, June 29, 2022)
