A new report from RenewableUK shows that the global pipeline of floating offshore wind projects has expanded in the last 12 months from 244 gigawatts to 266GW – an increase of 9%.
The number of projects has increased globally during that time from 285 to 316. The pipeline includes projects at any stage: fully operational, under construction, approved, in the planning system or at an early stage of development.
So far, 245 megawatts of floating wind are fully operational across 15 projects in 7 countries. Norway has the most with 94MW across 3 projects, the UK is second with 78MW (2 projects), followed by China with 40MW (5 projects), Portugal is fourth with 25MW (1 project) and Japan fifth with 5MW (2 projects).
Globally, 102MW are under construction (4 projects), 7.3GW are consented or in the pre-construction phase (22 projects), 21.6GW are in the planning system (15 projects) and 184GW are in early development or applying for a lease.
Although Italy has the largest pipeline with 16% of the global total (41.3GW), most of these projects are at an early stage of development. The same applies to the USA which is second with 13% (35.3GW). The UK is third with 12% (33.1GW), followed by Spain at 9% (24.7GW) and Sweden on 7% (18.2GW):
62% (165GW) of floating wind capacity announced so far worldwide is being developed in European waters. 12%(33.1GW) of the global floating portfolio is in UK waters, three-quarters of which (24.8GW) is in Scottish waters.
RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail, Co-Chair of the Floating Offshore Wind Taskforce said:
“It’s great to see the UK maintaining its position as a world leader in floating wind, but in an increasingly competitive global market the industry will now have to work even harder with the Government to ensure that we ramp up the amount of floating capacity we secure in each annual auction from now on to maintain our advantage. This will enable us to build up a world-class supply chain and achieve the economies of scale we need to drive down costs as fast as possible.
“The Floating Offshore Wind Taskforce will be setting out the extraordinary size of this industrial opportunity in a major report out tomorrow, which shows how this innovative technology can play a crucial role in Britain’s economic growth and in our clean power system in the decades ahead”.
