Europe’s offshore wind industry brought online a record 4200MW of offshore wind capacity in 2023.
The amount was up 40% on the 1.7GW installed in 2022, according to figures published by WindEurope.
Of the 4.2GW, 3GW was installed in the EU.
The Netherlands, France and the UK installed the most new capacity, including the 1.5GW Hollandse Kust Zuid project in the Netherlands.
Offshore wind investments in Europe also reached a new record.
A total of €30bn was raised across eight wind farm projects, which will This will finance 9GW of new offshore capacity.
This record comes after legal uncertainty and unhelpful market intervention had led to a drop in offshore wind investments, falling to an all-time low of €400m in 2022.
It also means that projects which had to postpone their final investment decision in 2022 are now moving ahead.
In 2023 the European Union also published its EU Wind Power Package with 15 immediate actions to support the European wind sector.
In addition 26 European Governments signed the European Wind Charter, committing to swiftly implement the actions ascribed to them in the Wind Power Package.
Over in the UK the Government raised the ceiling price by 66% for the upcoming offshore auction round (AR6) which could help the UK attract record investment in offshore wind in 2024.
In the UK Orsted reached final investment decision on Europe’s biggest project, the 2.9GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the UK.
RWE acquired the 4.2GW Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone portfolio and underlined its determination to resume the 1.4GW Norfolk Boreas project, which has previously been halted.
If all countries run their 2024 auctions as planned at least 40GW will be auctioned this year. Germany, Denmark, the UK, France, and Netherlands are the top five countries auctioning capacity over the next two years.
Poland’s first commercial offshore wind farm, the 1.2GW Baltic Power project, reached final investment decision in 2023, marking the start of Poland’s offshore wind development plans.