Global offshore wind capacity will surge to over 234GW by 2030 from 29.1GW at the end of 2019, led by exponential growth in the Asia-Pacific region and continued strong growth in Europe. 2019 was the best year on record for offshore wind, with 6.1GW of new capacity added globally, bringing total global cumulative installations to 29.1GW.
China remains in the number one spot for the second year in a row for new installations, installing a record 2.4GW, followed by the UK at 1.8GW and Germany at 1.1GW. While Europe continues to be the leading region for offshore wind, countries in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, as well as the US market are quickly picking up the pace and will be regions of significant growth in the next decade.
It is forecasted that through 2030, more than 205GW of new offshore wind capacity will be added globally, including at least 6.2GW of floating offshore wind. The global offshore market has grown on average by 24 per cent each year since 2013. Europe remains the largest market for offshore wind as of the end of 2019, making up 75 per cent of total global installations. Europe will continue to be a leader in offshore wind, with an ambitious 450GW goal by 2050 driven by installations in the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark and Poland, with several other EU markets posting double-digit volumes.
North America currently has just 30MW of offshore wind capacity in operation at the end of 2019, but deployment will accelerate in the coming years with 23GW forecasted to be installed by 2030.
North America currently has just 30MW of offshore wind capacity in operation at the end of 2019, but deployment will accelerate in the coming years with 23GW forecasted to be installed by 2030.
The Asia-Pacific region is led by China where 52GW of new offshore wind capacity is expected to be installed by 2030. Taiwan is set to become the second-largest offshore wind market in Asia after Mainland China, with a goal of 5.5GW by 2025 and an additional 10GW by 2035. Other markets in the region are also beginning to scale-up their offshore wind markets, with Vietnam, Japan and South Korea expected to install 5.2GW, 7.2GW and 12GW of offshore wind capacity respectively.
