Rapid growth seen in Asia’s offshore wind capacity: report

It is expected to rise by 15.3% annually. 

Asia’s offshore wind capacity is expected to “rapidly” grow by an annual rate of 15.3% to 109 gigawatts (GW) in 2031, Fitch Solutions reported. 

This is up from only 27GW by the end of 2021. Fitch noted this will be underpinned by some 128GW of offshore wind projects underway. 

In this light, Asia is considered as amongst the key growth drivers of offshore wind in the region. 

“We expect Asia and North America and Wester Europe (NAWE) to drive growth as established markets in these regions expand on existing capacity and newcomer markets emerge with their first projects,” the report read in part. 

Globally, installed capacity is projected to climb to 71GW in 2022 and 228GW in 2031. 

Read more: Offshore wind struggles as Asia faces regulatory bottlenecks

Western Europe is also expected to add some 60GW of installed capacity, estimated to account for 40%.

“The EU has a set a target of 60GW of installed offshore capacity by 2030 and 300GW by 2050,” the report also said. 

“This was recently increased by the North Sea Energy Cooperation Group, a collection of seven nations which agreed to non-binding targets of just under 80GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 260GW by 2050.”