Europe's Offshore Wind Grew 25% in 2017

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Offshore wind grew by 25% in Europe in 2017, bringing capacity to 15.8 gigawatts (GW).

A total of 3.1 GW was added by the completion of 13 new offshore windfarms, including the world's first floating offshore windfarm, Hywind Scotland. Europe now has more than 4,000 offshore wind turbines operating across 11 countries. Figures from industry body WindEurope showed that the U.K. and Germany accounted for most of them, installing 1.7 GW and 1.3 GW, respectively.

An additional 11 offshore windfarms are currently under construction, which will add another 2.9 GW of capacity. Projects in the pipeline will take offshore wind to 25 GW in the next two years. Although there are offshore windfarms in 11 countries, 98% of them are located in just five: U.K., Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Turbine sizes have also been on the increase since 2016, with new turbines averaging 5.9 MW, a 23% increase on those deployed in 2016. The average size of the new offshore windfarms came in at 493 MW, a 34% increase on 2016. There has also been an increase in capacity load factors, with projects like Dudgeon in the U.K. operating at 65% and the Anholt I project in Denmark hitting 54%.

"A 25% increase in one year is spectacular," commented Giles Dickson, WindEurope chief executive officer. "Offshore wind is now a mainstream part of the power system. And the costs have fallen rapidly. Investing in offshore wind today costs no more than in conventional power generation. It just shows Europe's ready to embrace a much higher renewables target for 2030. Thirty-five percent is easily achievable. Not least now that floating offshore wind farms are also coming on line."

In October, Industrial Info reported that first power had been generated at the world's floating offshore windfarm located in deep waters 25 kilometres (km) offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The 30-MW Hywind project, developed by Norway's oil and gas giant Statoil ASA (NYSE:STO), is capable of powering up to 20,000 homes, with the floating turbines located in water depths of 800 metres. For additional information, see October 23, 2017, article - First Floating Offshore Windfarm Powers Up in Scotland.

In December, Industrial Info reported that Portugal had green lit its first floating offshore windfarm. For additional information, see December 1, 2017, article - Portugal's First Floating Offshore Windfarm Gets Green Light.

Industrial Info is tracking the upsurge in floating offshore windfarm projects in Europe. There are five proposed and at various stages of construction:

• Hywind Scotland--30 MW--Scotland, 2017
• Kincardine--48 MW--Scotland, from 2018
• Dounreay Tri--2 x 5 MW--Scotland, 2018
• WindFloat Atlantic--30 MW--Portugal, 2018-2019
• Atlantis/Ideol project--100 MW--U.K., 2021

The growth of European offshore wind capacity is less clear after 2020, WindEurope cautioned. It will depend on what new offshore wind targets governments commit to in the National Energy and Climate Action Plans for 2030. Dickson said: "We'll see further growth in 2018 and 2019. But the longer-term outlook for offshore wind is unclear. Very few countries have defined yet what new volumes they want to install up to 2030. The National Plans governments are preparing under the Clean Energy Package will tell us more. The message to Governments as they prepare their plans is 'go for it on offshore wind': it's perfectly affordable and getting cheaper still; it's a stable form of power with increasing capacity factors; and it's 'made in Europe' and supports jobs, industry and exports."

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