It’s Monday, November 28, and floating offshore wind is on the rise.
Floating offshore wind power is on an upward trajectory, according to a recent analysis from the London-based trade association RenewableUK. The capacity of the world’s planned floating offshore wind projects has more than doubled over the past year, going from 91 gigawatts to 185 gigawatts — enough to power about 62 million U.S. homes.
Floating offshore wind refers to wind turbines installed on platforms attached to the ocean floor using flexible anchors or chains. By contrast, conventional offshore wind projects sit on fixed platforms that rest on the seabed — and so aren’t built in deep waters.
Most of this capacity won’t be operational for years, but the data signals much-needed progress on wind power. A separate report published earlier this year said the wind sector in general — including both on and offshore projects — was falling far short of the 3,200 gigawatts needed by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
“For wind energy alone, we should be installing four times the current level of annual installations to stay on a net-zero pathway,” said Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council trade group, in a statement at the time.
RenewableUK’s report highlights Europe as a leader for floating offshore wind, with the U.K., Sweden, Ireland, Italy, and Finland taking five of the top nine spots in terms of planned capacity. The U.K. alone has 33.3 gigawatts of new projects in the works, nearly a fifth of the total. The United States is in fourth place with about 17 gigawatts of planned capacity, thanks to large leasing areas off the West Coast.
Meanwhile, a new effort launched ahead of this year’s United Nations climate negotiations in Egypt could accelerate growth. Members of the Global Offshore Wind Alliance, which include countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., businesses, and international organizations, have pledged to work together to bring installed offshore wind capacity to 380 gigawatts by 2030, an increase of more than 500 percent.
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