European wind power industry trade body, WindEurope, has released data showing that investment in offshore wind in the continent reached €14 billion during the first half of this year.
According to WindEurope’s report, from January to June this year, some a total of 114 new commercial offshore wind turbines in 4 separate wind farms were fully grid connected across Europe, with a combined generational capacity of 511 megawatts.
While the volume of new grid-connected turbines was down 78% from last year, the total number of turbines constructed (including those not yet grid connected) reached 182 – an increase of 32% (or 44 turbines) compared to the first half of 2015.
The rate at which number of turbines and the volume of capacity connect to the grid increases is expected to accelerate towards 2020.
“Overall,” the report went on, “13 commercial wind farms were under construction which once completed will have a total capacity of over 4.2 GW.”
While the volume of new grid connected capacity was down on last year, the actual cash value of investment reached record highs, and the amount of new capacity that this investment will finance is more than double that financed during the same period of last year, at 3.7GW compared to 1.8GW in 2015.
All in all, €14 billion was invested in offshore wind projects across Europe over the past six months, with the majority of that investment (€10.4 billion going to projects based in the UK).
The deputy chief of RenewableUK, Maf Smith, said that this is evidence of the UK’s current status as a leader in the wind industry.
He said: “Offshore wind has been a real success story for the UK, and these latest figures are further evidence of this – investment in UK infrastructure projects so far this year are worth over £8.5bn across their lifetime.
“We know there’s more to come as well – the UK will invest over £20bn in wind energy in the next five years. Throughout the country offshore wind is creating jobs and revitalising coastal areas.”
However, while the majority of the investment went to UK projects, all of the newly grid-connected capacity was in the Netherlands and Germany, with the UK projects not set to go live quite yet.
The CEO of WindEurope, Giles Dickson, said that overall, the record breaking investment figures were a positive sign for the wind industry, but that the sector should not rest on its laurels.
He said, in a statement: “The record investment numbers show a clear industry commitment to offshore wind. We expect installations will pick up significantly in 2017 but there are a lot of challenges out there still on offshore wind. Not least the uncertainty over future volumes and regulation in many key markets for the period after 2020. We’re a long way from being able to say job done on offshore wind.”
He explained that while costs are coming down, making development more affordable, the number of upcoming projects needs to increase in order to sustain this affordability.
He said: “The costs of offshore wind are falling, but we need healthy volumes in the market to sustain this. The current pipeline of projects is not enough, and the commitments Member States have so far made for beyond 2020 fall well short of what’s needed. This risks undermining Europe’s competitive position in offshore wind.”
