Reports related to this article:
Project(s): View 1 related project in PECWeb
Plant(s): View 1 related plant in PECWeb
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Investment in Europe's offshore wind sector attracted a record-breaking 18.2 billion euro ($19.5 billion) in 2016, but actual windfarm additions dropped by almost half.
Last year 11 offshore wind projects reached the final investment decision stage, representing more than $19 billion in investment, a new record, according to industry group WindEurope, formerly the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). These windfarms will have a combined generating capacity of 4,948 megawatts (MW) of new capacity across five countries, half of it in the U.K.
"It's good to see the high level of investments in offshore wind--up 40% year on year," commented Giles Dickson, chief executive officer of WindEurope. "The new installations are in line with trend rate of the last five years after a spike in 2015. This was due to a backlog of grid connections."
Offshore turbine installations were down last year after the unprecedented surge in 2015. Offshore wind in Europe saw a net 1,558 MW of additional installed grid-connected capacity in 2016, a drop of 48% on 2015. Last year's installations were concentrated mainly on three countries--Germany (813 MW), the Netherlands (691 MW) and the U.K. (56 MW). In total, 338 new offshore wind turbines were grid-connected from January 1 to December 31, 2016. Europe is expected to double its new offshore wind installations in 2017 by adding more than 3,000 MW. Total offshore wind capacity in Europe now stands at 12,631 MW.
The average size of turbines also grew to 4.8 MW, up from 4.2 MW in 2015. Industrial Info reported in September that the U.K. became home to the world's first commercial installation of giant 8-MW turbines at the Burbo Bank Extension offshore windfarm. Developed by Danish developer DONG Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), the Burbo Bank Extension features the V164 turbine from Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX:VWS) (Aarhus, Denmark). Installation of all 32 turbines was completed earlier this month. For additional information, see September 12, 2016, article - World's Largest Offshore Wind Turbine Installed in U.K. and January 3, 2017, article--World's Largest Wind Turbines Fully Installed at Burbo Bank Project.
Dickson said: "We've installed on average one wind turbine every day in Europe for the last two years. With a strong pipeline of new projects on the way, we expect the numbers to rise quickly over the next four years. We should see over 3 gigawatts (GW) of new installations in 2017. And we're set to reach 25 GW total capacity by 2020--double today's level."
However, Dickson admitted that after 2020 the future for offshore wind becomes harder to predict: "Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. have signalled further build-out of offshore wind to 2030, but other countries haven't yet. Now is the time for them to do so, as they start writing their Energy and Climate Change Action Plans as part of the EU Energy Union. The bottom line is Europe needs to keep up the strong growth of offshore wind to deliver the energy transition. And it's increasingly affordable: the winning prices in the last four tenders show offshore wind is now competitive with all other forms of power generation."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
Last year 11 offshore wind projects reached the final investment decision stage, representing more than $19 billion in investment, a new record, according to industry group WindEurope, formerly the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). These windfarms will have a combined generating capacity of 4,948 megawatts (MW) of new capacity across five countries, half of it in the U.K.
"It's good to see the high level of investments in offshore wind--up 40% year on year," commented Giles Dickson, chief executive officer of WindEurope. "The new installations are in line with trend rate of the last five years after a spike in 2015. This was due to a backlog of grid connections."
Offshore turbine installations were down last year after the unprecedented surge in 2015. Offshore wind in Europe saw a net 1,558 MW of additional installed grid-connected capacity in 2016, a drop of 48% on 2015. Last year's installations were concentrated mainly on three countries--Germany (813 MW), the Netherlands (691 MW) and the U.K. (56 MW). In total, 338 new offshore wind turbines were grid-connected from January 1 to December 31, 2016. Europe is expected to double its new offshore wind installations in 2017 by adding more than 3,000 MW. Total offshore wind capacity in Europe now stands at 12,631 MW.
The average size of turbines also grew to 4.8 MW, up from 4.2 MW in 2015. Industrial Info reported in September that the U.K. became home to the world's first commercial installation of giant 8-MW turbines at the Burbo Bank Extension offshore windfarm. Developed by Danish developer DONG Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), the Burbo Bank Extension features the V164 turbine from Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX:VWS) (Aarhus, Denmark). Installation of all 32 turbines was completed earlier this month. For additional information, see September 12, 2016, article - World's Largest Offshore Wind Turbine Installed in U.K. and January 3, 2017, article--World's Largest Wind Turbines Fully Installed at Burbo Bank Project.
Dickson said: "We've installed on average one wind turbine every day in Europe for the last two years. With a strong pipeline of new projects on the way, we expect the numbers to rise quickly over the next four years. We should see over 3 gigawatts (GW) of new installations in 2017. And we're set to reach 25 GW total capacity by 2020--double today's level."
However, Dickson admitted that after 2020 the future for offshore wind becomes harder to predict: "Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. have signalled further build-out of offshore wind to 2030, but other countries haven't yet. Now is the time for them to do so, as they start writing their Energy and Climate Change Action Plans as part of the EU Energy Union. The bottom line is Europe needs to keep up the strong growth of offshore wind to deliver the energy transition. And it's increasingly affordable: the winning prices in the last four tenders show offshore wind is now competitive with all other forms of power generation."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
