China Now Has Nearly Half of the World’s Offshore Wind Capacity

44% of the world’s offshore wind turbine capacity is installed in Chinese waters, & more is coming, according to a new report.

Robert Speht, CEO of Vidi Energy, welcomes this announcement from China, and comments: “It’s great to see offshore wind expanding in Asia, with now almost half of the global market! In China we often see the “largest” or the “most” – which is great as it pushes the boundary of what is possible. Let’s hope other countries follow this example and expand their current markets. Exciting times!”

China has maintained its leadership in the global race for new offshore wind turbine installations despite an expected decline in annually added capacity, according to the latest numbers from the WORLD FORUM OFFSHORE WIND (WFO).

The WFO’s annual report shows that nearly 7 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity was added in China in 2022, a substantial drop compared to 12.7 GW of new capacity that was added to the national grid in 2021.

Despite the drop, China still maintained leadership in new wind capacity in a year that saw a total of 9.4 GW of global offshore wind capacity added, a substantial drop compared to 15.6 GW in 2021.

The new capacity pushed global installed offshore wind to 57.6 GW, up from 48.1 GW.

During the year, China expanded its position as the world’s largest offshore wind market by far with 25.6 GW of installed capacity – more than the UK with 13.6 GW, Germany with 8 GW & the Netherlands with 3 GW combined. 44 percent of the world’s total offshore wind capacity is now installed in Chinese waters.

The report shows that 42 new offshore wind farms went into operation worldwide last year, 29 of which were installed in China, five in Vietnam & two in Japan. The UK, South Korea, Italy, France, Spain & Germany commissioned one wind farm each.

France & Japan installed their first large-scale offshore wind farms ever. France welcomed the completion of the Saint Nazaire wind farm, with a capacity of 480 MW, & Japan started up the Akita/Noshiro Port wind farm, with a capacity of 140 MW.

New offshore wind installations are set to reach a record 18.4 GW in 2023, & mainland China will account for over half of the total. This year, six markets will add over 1 GW, including Taiwan, which will install over 2 GW of new capacity for the first time.

Original post by: maritime-executive.com

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