Offshore wind industry enjoys best-ever year with 21.1 GW of installations and prepares for “new era of growth”

There was a three-fold increase in grid connection worldwide from 2020 to 2021, with 21.1 GW of new installations bringing global capacity to 56 GW. Year-on-year growth of 58% means offshore wind now represents 7% of total global cumulative installations. 

The data also contains a clear demonstration of what tightly-aligned ambition and action can deliver. China contributed 80% of new offshore installations last year, which makes 2021 the fourth year the country has led the world in new installations. Vietnam’s proactive approach delivered further capacity, and the Global Offshore Wind Report 2022 forecasts that by the end of 2022 Asia will replace Europe as the world’s largest offshore market. The report suggests it could take until 2031 for Europe to regain the crown. 

This was also the year that showed floating offshore wind has now passed

the demonstration stage and entered the pre-commercial phase, with 57 MW of new installations bringing the total installed globally to 121.4 MW. Of those new installations, 48 MW were in the UK, 5.5 MW in China and 3.6 MW in Norway. 

The Global Offshore Wind Report 2022 predicts that by 2031 315 GW of new offshore wind capacity will be added, bringing the total capacity to 370 GW – close to GWEC/IRENA’s target of 380 GW by 2030 for a net zero pathway. As the volume of annual offshore wind installations is expected to more than double from 21.1 GW in 2021 to 54.9 GW in 2031, offshore’s share of new global wind installations is set to grow from 23% in 2021 to at least 30% by 2031.

Considering the increased floating wind target in the UK and the accelerated floating project development activities in Europe, Asia and North America, which bring the current global floating project pipeline to 120 GW, GWEC has upgraded its 2030 global floating wind forecast by 14% from last year’s report and predicts that 18.9 GW is likely to be built globally by 2030, of which 11 GW will be in Europe, 5.5 GW in Asia and the rest in North America.

GWEC Market Intelligence has identified more than 700GW of offshore wind projects that are at different stages of development worldwide, of which 120 GW is floating wind. 

Currently, 23 GW capacity of offshore wind projects is under construction. With 49.5% market share, Europe is now taking the lead in offshore wind project construction, followed by Asia (46.4%) and the US ( 4.1%). China is the most active market with 7.8 GW under construction, followed by the UK (5.6 GW), Netherlands (2.3 GW), Taiwan (2.1 GW), France (1.4 GW), and Germany (1.1 GW).

GWEC members and GWEC Market Intelligence subscribers can download the 2022 Global Offshore Wind Project Pipeline Report today, as well as the Global Offshore Wind Report, for the latest data.

Download the report HERE