Europe has seen a surge in offshore wind energy, with a record 4.2 GW of new installations, representing a 40% increase compared to 2022, WindEurope, the European wind energy association, stated on Thursday 18 January.
Of the total 4.2 GW, 3 GW of this was built in the EU in 2023, representing an increase of 2.1 GW year-on-year.
The Netherlands, France and the UK lead the way in terms of new capacity, with the largest operational wind farm in the world, the 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid project.
Investment also hit a new record, climbing to €30 billion, supporting the development of 9 GW of capacity over the coming years.
WindEurope points out positive political developments, such as the EU Wind Power Package (see EUROPE 13278/5) and the signing of the Wind Charter (see EUROPE 13318/10), which could boost investor confidence.
If all countries hold their auctions as planned for 2024, at least 40 GW will be auctioned this year, compared with 13.5 GW in 2023.
However, concerns remain about the prevalence of uncapped negative bids in auctions, presenting risks to project delivery as developers have to cover the additional costs of negative bids.
WindEurope also points out that Europe is expected to build around 5 GW of offshore wind turbines per year over the next three years, and that this is not enough to meet climate and energy security targets.
“European countries will need to build 24 GW a year in the period 2027-2030 to reach the 2030 targets. But today’s offshore wind supply chain can only produce around 7 GW each year”, explains WindEurope, which believes more offshore wind turbines will need to be built towards the end of the decade, in particular by investing in grids, ports and ships. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)