Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the global offshore wind industry has had a remarkable year. In 2o21, global offshore wind capacity grew by almost 50% compared to 2020. Especially China accelerated the expansion and contributed significantly to the increase with newly installed capacity of 12.7 GW in 2o21.
With this growth, China is now pioneer and driving force in the global market of offshore wind. But also other countries are showing their will to push ahead with expansion. In Europe, especially the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark have significantly expanded their offshore wind capacities in 2o21. In the first two countries mentioned, more than 5 GW of offshore wind capacity is also under construction until end of 2021. In addition, Taiwan is continuing its strong expansion with around 2.5 GW of additional capacity under construction.
This development and the currently emerging markets all around the world show the increasing importance of offshore wind. On the one hand, many countries see the economic potential and want to participate in the economic upswing. At the same time they recognize that offshore wind plays a crucial role in the fight Offshore Wind Worldwide 2022 9 against the climate crisis. Thus, on a political level, it can be seen that many countries are striving to create legal frameworks or amend their existing regulations to facilitate expansion.
This is also an important concern for supranational organizations such as the EU. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) recently set out recommendations on how to deploy offshore wind more quickly in an adopted report. In essence, the MEPs call for a acceleration of approval procedures for the construction of Offshore Wind Turbines in order to meet the European Commission’s targets of 60 GW by 2o30 and 340 GW by 2050 in all of the EU’s sea.
