The UK's overall pipeline of offshore wind projects now stands at 86GW, more than eight times the country's current operating capacity, according to a new report from RenewableUK.
The UK offshore wind project pipeline includes projects which are fully operational, under construction, consented toa, in the planning system, or being developed for submission into planning.
According to the report, this represents a 60% increase over the past 12 months, driven mainly by massive leasing round announcements by The Crown Estate (8GW) and Crown Estate Scotland (25GW).
Global OW Pipeline at 517GW
The statistics, compiled for RenewableUK’s latest EnergyPulse report, also show that the total global offshore wind pipeline has reached 517GW.
According to the report, China now has more capacity fully operational than the UK (24GW compared to UK's 10.5GW), but the UK’s total pipeline of 86GW is bigger than China’s 75GW. The USA is in third place with 48GW in its pipeline.
RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail said: “Our latest EnergyPulse report shows that the UK’s world-class offshore wind industry has taken huge strides forward in the past twelve12 months, with landmark leasing announcements adding an extra 33GW to our pipeline, and funding for floating wind ringfenced in the current CfD auction to help accelerate the growth of innovative technology. It’s clear that offshore wind will be doing the heavy lifting as we secure our clean home-grown energy supplies and move faster towards independence from unstable fossil fuel imports.
"The global offshore wind market is also continuing to grow at a phenomenal rate with an extra 200GW added to the pipeline over the last year. As the UK was an early mover in offshore wind, we’re in a prime position to capitalise on our expertise as a market leader which is highly sought after worldwide”.
Turbines getting bigger
The report also analyses data on major components of UK offshore wind farms such as turbines, cables and substations.
This shows that the average turbine capacity will increase from 8-9MW this year to 14-15MW by 2025. The report notes that this requires more UK-based factories, which will also need to be larger, creating new supply chain opportunities, RenewableUK said.