The global offshore wind industry installed a record 6.1GW of new capacity in 2019, bringing the total capacity to 29GW, according to the latest report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
The 6.1GW of new capacity in 2019 represents a 35.5% increase compared to the previous year, which saw 4.5GW installed.
Europe remained the largest market for offshore wind, accounting for 59% of new installations, while the Asia-Pacific region accounted for the remaining 41%.
The report writes that China remains the overall leader in new installations, adding more than 2.3GW capacity in 2019, with the UK and Germany in second and third place, installing 1.8GW and 1.1GW respectively.
Offshore wind accounted for approximately 10% of new wind power installations in 2019, an increase from 5% in 2015.
GWEC Market Intelligence’s preliminary forecasts find that this growth is set to accelerate as an additional 50GW of new offshore wind capacity could be installed by 2024 globally.
This would mean that the total global installed capacity could reach nearly 90GW over the next five years, an increase of almost 207% from the current capacity.
“While 2019 offshore wind installations were driven by established market leaders, over the next few years we will see more and more countries establish their offshore industry, expanding into new markets in Europe, the US and Asia Pacific,” said Alastair Dutton, Chair of GWEC’s Global Offshore Wind Task Force.
“As these new markets are established, this will further drive the exponential growth of the global offshore wind industry. We need to focus now on getting the right policy frameworks set up in these emerging markets to facilitate this growth and pave the way for a wider global build-out of capacity post-2030.”
