The global offshore wind power market continues to expand alongside each country’s constantly rising demand for renewable energy, and was estimated to sit at a scale of US$27.33 billion in 2021. New development plans will introduce additional commercial opportunities for developing countries within the next five years.
According to the forecast of market intelligence firm Precedence Research, the global offshore wind power market is likely to exceed US$100 billion for the first time in 2019 and arrive at US$108 billion then. The market is expected to grow under a CAGR of 18.82% between 2022 and 2030.
European countries, being the origin of development in offshore wind power technology, have stabilized in market scale thanks to their continuous engagement, and are constantly releasing emerging technology such as floating wind turbines. Nearly 2/3 of global wind farms were installed in the UK and Germany during 2016.
China, however, has started expanding its offshore wind power market since 2022, and has now surpassed the UK and Germany in offshore wind power capacity. Chinese wind turbine supplier MingYang Smart Energy has participated in the global competition of largest wind turbines by having released the MySE 16.0-242 wind turbine that individually measures at 16MW, and is even larger than the Haliade-X wind turbine of GE. MySE 16.0-242 is expected to be commercially manufactured starting from 2024.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (India) also recently announced a plan that aims to establish 30,000MW of offshore wind power and 50,000MW of solar power so as to expand capacity and accelerate energy transformation. India has a pretty long history in developing onshore wind power, though the country has zero development in offshore wind power, with no offshore wind farms along its coastline that measures at approximately 7,600km. German energy giant RWE joined hands with Tata Power Renewable Energy in February and signed a MOU that comprises of a co-development in India’s offshore wind power market.
Asia has now become the largest site for offshore wind farm development in the world, though the COVID-19 pandemic has somewhat decelerated the growth of the particular power source, and those major challenges have been met among manufacturers, entries of crews and technicians, and the industry chain. Existing hardware and software would need to be adjusted in the future alongside the development of large wind turbines and floating wind turbines, including port facilities and bigger work ships.
(Cover photo source: Flickr/CGP Grey CC BY 2.0)