The European offshore wind industry had a strong year in 2011, with nine new offshore wind farms – representing a total power capacity of 866 MW – added to the grid, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) announced upon releasing its annual offshore wind statistics.
An additional nine offshore wind farms currently under construction will bring online another 2.375 GW, which will increase the European Union's (EU) total installed offshore wind power capacity by 62%, according to EWEA.
Across the EU, a total of 1,371 offshore turbines have now been connected to the grid, representing a total power capacity of 3.813 GW across 53 wind farms in 10 European countries.
EWEA's target for installed EU offshore wind power capacity is 40 GW by 2020, which would be equivalent to approximately 4% of the EU's total electricity consumption.
A large majority (87%) of all newly installed and grid connected offshore wind power in 2011 was in British waters. Siemens supplied 80% of the megawatts installed offshore last year, while SSE and RWE Innogy were the most active developers and DONG Energy continued to be the most active equity player in offshore wind power.
