World has 54-GW floating wind pipeline, RenewableUK says

The global pipeline of floating offshore wind projects, from early development stage to fully operational ones, now tops 54 GW, with Europe accounting for 30.9 GW of this, industry body RenewableUK said today.

With 8.8 GW of projects, the UK has a bigger pipeline than any other country. Ireland has 7.7 GW, Sweden 6.2 GW and Italy 3.7 GW, according to RenewableUK’s research, which is being released on the first day of the organisation’s Floating Offshore Wind conference in Aberdeen. Norway, Spain and France are also looking to install floating wind at scale.

Beyond Europe, the countries with significant floating wind pipelines include Australia with 7.4 GW, South Korea with 7.1 GW, the US with 5.5 GW, Taiwan with 1.5 GW and Japan with 1.3 GW. China and Saudi Arabia also plan projects.

In Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm, the 30-MW Hywind, went online in 2017 and the 50-MW Kincardine floating project is almost fully operational.

The UK government this week said GBP 24 million (USD 33m/EUR 28m) of support will be provided to floating projects as part of the contracts for difference (CfD) auction opening in December.

The ongoing ScotWind leasing round, meanwhile, is expected to lead to the installation of up to 10 GW of fixed-foundation and floating offshore wind farms. In July, the Crown Estate announced that 300 MW of new floating projects have been approved to progress to the next stage of assessment in the Celtic Sea.

Globally, deployment of floating wind turbine is expected to gain speed between 2025 and 2030.

(GBP 1 = USD 1.386/EUR 1.173)

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