Oceans of opportunity
22.1 GW
Europe is the leader in offshore wind and is home for the largest operational wind farms for both bottom fixed and floating foundation technologies. Europe’s offshore capacity is sufficiently large enough to supply the electricity demand in Europe which will only continue to grow within the upcoming years. The visions stated by most countries foresee an energy mix with at least 25% coming from offshore wind. This has become clear with the significant increase in offshore wind farm installations since 2012.
Cumulative and annual offshore wind installations 2009-2019
Europe has the potential to realise up to 3,400 TWh of offshore wind energy within its waters in 2030[1]. The higher and more constant wind speeds at sea coupled with industry efforts to overcome the challenging marine environment means that offshore wind energy can be a real enabler to help Europe’s ambition to become number one in renewables.
Through a combination of industrial cost reduction and regulatory support, offshore wind could grow to 24.5 GW by 2020, and up to 100 GW by 2030 in the most ambitious scenario. If you would like to see the geographical distribution of the wind farms in Europe and the floating worldwide projects click here.
Key documents
- Offshore wind in Europe – key trends and statistics 2019
- Offshore wind in Europe – Mid-Year statistics 2019 (Members only)
- Offshore wind in Europe – key trends and statistics 2018
- Driving cost reductions in offshore wind
- A statement from the offshore wind ports
- Floating Offshore Wind Vision Statement
- Unleashing Europe’s offshore wind potential
