Offshore wind investments in Europe reached a record €18.2bn in 2016, up 40% on the previous year, financing 4.9GW of new capacity, according to WindEurope.
The UK attracted almost €10.5bn, followed by Germany with €4.3bn, Belgium €2.3bn and Denmark €1bn.
However, 2016 saw a 48% decline in new capacity added to the grid, with 1.558GW from 338 turbines connected last year.
Germany added 813MW, the Netherlands 69MW and the UK 56MW in 2016 – the only countries to install new capacity last year, WindEurope said.
It added that total offshore wind capacity in Europe now stands at 12.631GW.
Average turbine size increased in 2016 to 4.8MW from 4.2MW the previous year, with the first 8MW machines installed at the 258MW Burbo Bank 2 project in the UK.
WindEurope chief executive Giles Dickson said: “The new installations are in line with the trend rate of the last five years after a spike in 2015 due to a backlog of grid connections.
“We should see over 3GW of new installations in 2017. We’re set to reach 25GW total capacity by 2020 – double today’s level.”
But, Dickson said, beyond 2020 there is a questions mark over capacity increases.
“Germany, the Netherlands and the UK have signalled further build-out of offshore wind to 2030, but other countries haven’t yet.
“The bottom line is Europe needs to keep up the strong growth of offshore wind to deliver the energy transition.”
Image: reNEWS
