World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO) published its Global Offshore Wind Report 2021. Globally, a record 15,666 MW of offshore wind capacity went into operation during 2021 compared to 5,206 MW in 2020. This growth was mainly driven by China which installed 12.7 GW of new offshore wind capacity in 2021.
Due to the expiration of China’s federal feed-in tariff for offshore wind many companies rushed to complete their projects before the end of the year. Global installed offshore wind capacity reached 48.2 GW by the end of 2021 compared to 32.5 GW by the end of 2020. This translates into an annual growth rate of 48.2%.
53 new offshore wind farms went into operation in 2021 worldwide of which 45 were installed in China, 3 in the UK, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Denmark, 1 in Taiwan, and 1 in Norway. China is now the world’s largest offshore wind market by far with 19.7 GW of installed capacity. 40% of the world’s total offshore wind capacity is now installed in China.
Looking at offshore wind farms under construction, China again leads the way. The Chinese offshore wind sector continues to grow with a total capacity of 7,993 MW currently under construction. The UK is in second place with a total capacity of 2,990 MW under construction, closely followed by Taiwan (2,505 MW) and the Netherlands (2,229 MW). In addition, construction works for the first commercial-scale offshore wind farms started in France (976MW), Japan (140 MW), Norway (88 MW – floating), and Italy (30 MW). In Germany, the disruption caused by changes to the regulatory framework for offshore wind back in 2017 is reflected by zero capacity under construction for the second year in a row.
