A record 5.2GW of fully operational offshore wind capacity was commissioned in 2019 which took the global cumulative offshore wind capacity to 27,213MW — a 23% increase from the capacity online at the end of 2018.
According to a report from World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO), in total, 16 new wind farms — defined as having two or more turbines — in China, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Taiwan entered operation last year.
The U.K. still has the most offshore wind capacity in operation, boasting over 9.7 GW of installed capacity. It is followed by Germany (7,498MW), China (4,906MW), Denmark (1,738MW) and Belgium (1,557MW).
WFO expects China to become the world’s largest offshore wind market during the 2020s.
There are currently 23 wind farms with a combined capacity of 6,989MW under construction with at least one foundation installed.
China (3,662MW) leads the way, ahead of the Netherlands (1,484MW), the UK (714MW) and Denmark (605MW). Construction of offshore wind farms is also underway in Germany, Belgium, South Korea, and Portugal.
The continuous offshore wind growth path implemented by the Dutch government makes The Netherlands the second largest market for offshore wind projects under construction with 1.5 GW.
Floating offshore wind is also making significant progress. Announcements for two large-scale floating projects in South Korea brought the total floating offshore wind development pipeline to around 1GW.
With four floating offshore wind projects under development in the Atlantic Ocean as well as Mediterranean Sea France is the front runner in this new market, WFO said.