Offshore Wind
Offshore wind is a mainstream energy source in Europe and is really taking off in China.
After what it described as a ‘spectacular year’ for offshore wind in 2017, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) anticipates that 2019 will be another record year for offshore wind in Europe but said other markets are also taking now off, not least China.
In the latest issue of its Global Wind Report, GWEC said it expects activity to be concentrated mainly in the UK, with 3.3 GW of new grid-connected capacity between 2018 and 2020, followed by Germany with 2.3 GW, Belgium with 1.3 GW, the Netherlands with 1.3 GW and Denmark with 1.0 GW.
There are 400 MW currently under construction, which are expected to be connected to the grid throughout 2018. Germany will connect turbines from Merkur and Borkum Riffgrund projects in 2018 and Belgium will connect turbines in the Rentel and Norther windfarms. Winning projects of recent tenders in Denmark and the Netherlands are expected to start to connect capacity towards the end of 2018.
