World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO), an association dedicated to promoting offshore wind worldwide, has released its Global Offshore Wind Report 2019, which reveals the increasing presence of offshore wind in the world market.
According to WFO’s report, 2019 marked a record year for offshore wind. Nearly 5.2 GW of wind energy capacity was added to the global grid throughout the year, a more than 200 MW increase from numbers posted in 2018. The report reveals that in 2019, 16 new wind farms – in China, the U.K., Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Taiwan – achieved commercial operations.
Additionally, 2019 experienced a significant 24% growth of global offshore wind installations compared to the previous year.
WFO researchers found that the average size of these newly added offshore wind farms is 325 MW. In the future, WFO expects these numbers to continually grow. Worldwide, WFO claims, 146 offshore wind farms are now in operation.
The report also focuses on the world’s total wind power capacity: By the end of 2019, the total global installed offshore wind capacity reached approximately 27.2 GW.
The report goes on to break down offshore construction completed and offshore projects in development country by country. The U.K. still has the most offshore wind capacity in operation, boasting over 9.7 GW of installed capacity.
To see the full version of WFO’s Global Offshore Wind Report 2019, click here.
Photo: A selection from page 3 of WFO’s Global Offshore Wind Report 2019
