Report Predicts Explosion in Offshore Wind Energy Sector by 2020

The research and consulting firm, GlobalData, has released a new report which takes a detailed look at the global offshore wind power market. The report states that due to strong support and investment from the UK, a general trend to move away from fossil fuels, and declining costs of manufacture and installation, the offshore wind power sector will explode over the next decade.

Installed capacity at the end of 2012 was 5.1GW, but this is predicted to grow to 54.9GW by the end of 2020, an annual growth rate of 34.5%.

The UK is the leader in the offshore wind energy market with an installed capacity of 2.7GW, more than half of the total capacity in the world.

Related article: Has Belgium Cracked the Problem of Storing Wind Power Electricity?

The UK government rests many of its hopes for achieving the 2020 renewable energy targets on its offshore wind sector, with major expansions planned which will see its installed capacity reach 21GW by 2020; an increase of nearly 800% from current levels.

Several other countries have been identified by the report as expected to invest heavily in the installation of offshore wind farms during the next decade. Germany already has ambitious plans to significantly develop its offshore wind sector, announcing targets of 25GW of capacity to be installed by 2030, and 95GW by 2050.

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com