Time to get involved with the offshore wind business?

With an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% from 2017 to 2026, the offshore wind energy market is ramping up growth globally. Developments in the US are lagging behind in this sector, but new policies are brightening the future of US offshore wind.

So far, most of the action is happening in European markets and China, accounting for 77% and 22% of added global capacity in 2017, respectively.

Extremely low subsidy prices in 2016 and 2017 tenders, including zero-subsidy bids in Germany and a subsidy-free Dutch tender, demonstrate how far the offshore wind industry has come in Europe in recent years.

With 12 projects currently under construction, China’s offshore developments are expected to account for an increasing amount of the world’s connected offshore capacity. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the US, on the other hand, rate as emerging markets in the offshore wind sector and will start to exceed an accumulative 100MW from 2020 to 2021.

New frameworks will accelerate the up-and-coming US offshore market. Thanks to policies in New York and Connecticut, MAKE, a part of Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, upgraded its 2018 to 2027 offshore wind installation forecast by 1.4GW in a recent Inform.

Investment-enabling policies that came into place in Maryland, Massachusetts and New York at the end of 2017 give the US offshore wind sector an opportunity to seriously consider installation vessel construction. This presents an opportunity to establish a localized supply chain. 

To date, extensive onshore wind possibilities in the US market have resulted in a neglected offshore wind power installation, with a 30MW demonstration-scale project near Block Island being the only project region-wide. 

The Global Offshore Wind Power Market report from MAKE provides a comprehensive overview of the offshore wind energy sector across all markets globally. Curious to know more? Get a taste of the report, including a full list of content and figures.