Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Europe’s offshore wind capacity additions should exceed 4 GW for the first time this year, according to research by Rystad Energy.
The trend should continue, with new capacity additions almost doubling again in 2023 to 7.3 GW and to 8.6 GW in 2025.
UK projects adding 3.2 GW of capacity will be the main driver of the growth, largely from three projects set to be fully commissioned in 2022.
Rystad Energy offshore wind analyst Anubhav Venkatesh said: “Europe is the world’s most mature offshore wind region, but Chinese installations have dominated global additions in recent years. Chinese projects represented 85% of all global capacity additions in 2021, with Europe only contributing 10%.
“But that looks set to change this year, and the continent is expected to continue ramping up capacity additions through the end of the decade.”
The three major UK projects are Ørsted’s 1.2-GW Hornsea One, the 1.4- GW Hornsea Two, and Moray East, majority owned by the Ocean Winds joint venture between Engie and EDP Renewables.
RWE will add its majority-owned Triton Knoll in the UK and its wholly owned 342-MW Kaskasi development, Germany’s first offshore wind farm to come online since 2020.
France will account for the second-largest capacity additions in Europe this year, commissioning its first commercial offshore wind project (480 MW).
Norway should complete commissioning of the Equinor-operated 88-MW Hywind Tampen, the world’s largest floating offshore wind installation of its type.
This year, Italy will commission its first offshore wind farm, the 30-MW Taranto project, with Spain providing floating demonstration projects.
France continues to boost capacity deployment and should add around 3 GW of capacity during 2022-2025.
Dutch capacity additions will resume in 2023, while Danish projects will add around 1.5 GW of capacity during 2023-2025. Finally, Poland is set to commission its first offshore wind farm in 2025, contributing around 1.4 GW of Europe’s new capacity.
04.21.2022
