Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 26 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Chinese dominance drives Asia’s

emergence in offshore wind

COMMENTARY Asia is rapidly overtaking Europe as the main now aiming for 7GW of offshore wind by 2030,
driver of the offshore wind market, with China as well as 16GW onshore, giving wind a 15.8%
accounting for 80% of the 21.1GW of new capac- market share by 2030.
ity added in 2021. Taiwan aiming for 15GW by 2035, the report
Total global additions rose by 200% year on said, while India is aiming for 30GW offshore by
year to 21.1GW, bringing total capacity world- 2030.
wide to 56GW, 58% more than in 2021. ASIA Chin, meanwhile, intends to add a total of
is set to replace Europe as the world’s largest 40-50 GW of offshore capacity during the 2021
offshore market by the end of 2022, according to 2025 period.
to new research from the Global Wind Energy This was also the year that showed floating off-
Council (GWEC), which dubbed 2021 an shore wind has now passed the demonstration
“astonishing year.” stage and entered the pre-commercial phase,
Total additions were the highest ever, and the with 57 MW of new installations bringing the
Global Offshore Wind Report 2022 forecast that total installed globally to 121.4 MW. Of those
offshore wind was set to accelerate from 2025 as new installations, 48 MW were in the UK, 5.5
government investment in net zero emissions MW in China and 3.6 MW in Norway.
ambitions kicks in. Considering the increased floating wind tar-
The report said the industry was set for an era get in the UK and the accelerated floating pro-
of dramatic growth driven by new technology ject development activities in Europe, Asia and
and government’s needs for energy security and North America, which bring the current global
affordability. floating project pipeline to 120GW,GWEC has
GWEC upgraded its capacity outlook for upgraded its 2030 global floating wind forecast
2030 by 45.3GW (16.7%), compared to its 2021 by 14% from last year’s report and predicts that
report, to 316GW, meaning that 260GW of new 18.9GW is likely to be built globally by 2030, of
offshore capacity could be added between 2022 which 11GW will be in Europe, 5.5GW in Asia
and 2030. and the rest in North America.
GWEC CEO Ben Backwell said: “It has been In total, the volume of annual offshore wind
an astonishing year for the offshore wind sec- installations is expected to more than double
tor. Governments across the world are now from 21.1GW in 2021 to 54.9GW in 2031. This
recognising the once in a lifetime opportunity means that offshore’s share of new global wind
that offshore wind represents to deliver secure, installations is set to grow from 23% in 2021 to
affordable and clean energy while fostering at least 30% by 2031.
industrial development and job creation.” GWEC Market Intelligence has identified
China’s dominance of the offshore wind was more than 700GW of offshore wind projects that
great, contributing 80% of new offshore instal- are at different stages of development worldwide,
lations in 2021 as it was the world’s leading of which 120GW is floating wind.
installer for the fourth year in a row. Currently, 23GW capacity of offshore wind
projects is under construction. With 49.5% mar-
Figures ket share, Europe was the leader in offshore wind
There was a three-fold increase in grid connec- project construction, followed by Asia (46.4%)
tion worldwide from 2020 to 2021, with 21.1GW and the US (4.1%). China is the most active mar-
of new installations bringing global capacity to ket with 7.8GW under construction, followed
56GW. Year-on-year growth of 58% means off- by the UK (5.6GW), Netherlands (2.3GW), Tai-
shore wind now represents 7% of total global wan (2.1GW), France (1.4GW), and Germany
cumulative installations. (1.1GW).
As well as China, the report highlighted This shares are set to change as the report pre-
Vietnam as a growing market, contributing dicts that Asia will surge ahead of Europe during
to Asia’s emerging dominance. The country is this decade.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 29•June•2022