Offshore wind project final investment decisions (FIDs), outside mainland China, will grow 57% in the next 18 months, compared to 2019-2020, according to analysis from Westwood Global Energy Group.
The growth represents an additional 20.4GW of new power capacity with just under a third of this activity being driven by emerging offshore wind markets such as the US, Vietnam, and South Korea, Westwood found.
Westwood offshore energy services head Thom Payne said: “Even though Westwood has been analysing offshore wind since 2006, the market is still young and the construction and installation of wind farms has benefitted from lower oil and gas supply chain prices, as a result of weaker oil and gas demand.
“This has enabled the growth in offshore wind by making it easier to access shared services cost efficiently.
“But as prices rise, developers will struggle to compete, especially as offshore wind projects become more complex and require more intricate engineering, equipment and vessels.”
Westwood also launched its new WindLogix application as part of its global offshore energy intelligence interface.
In addition, WindLogix will offer quarterly reports covering policy mechanisms, reviews of turbine maker performance, activity updates, five-year regional activity outlooks and analysis of key challenges facing the offshore wind sector.