GWEC report: Five countries could accelerate the growth of floating offshore wind
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has published Floating Offshore Wind – a Global Opportunity, a report setting out the clear opportunity floating offshore wind presents for countries across the globe.
The report sets out the enormous role floating offshore wind could have in the world’s drive, over the next decade, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil. The technology is central to global ambitions to reach Net Zero by 2050.
The report focuses on five countries – Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Philippines and USA – which all have significant floating wind potential.
These five countries are termed the ‘chasing pack’, and together with the most mature floating markets – UK, South Korea, France and Japan – could spearhead the next wave of floating wind. The global race to develop this technology is already underway, and these countries can catch up to the current market leaders, if they put in place the right policy now.
Ben Backwell, GWEC CEO, said:
“Offshore wind is a vital tool in global action to decarbonise. While the focus of this decade is rapid growth of fixed offshore wind, we also need to see political leadership so that floating offshore wind is ready to play its part."
The report, from research and analytics company Aegir Insights, shows the critical role of political leadership in kick-starting floating offshore wind markets. The market is nascent, but could be huge: 80% of the world’s offshore wind resource potential lies in waters deeper than 60m.
For many countries, the technical potential for floating offshore wind dwarfs that of fixed-bottom turbines. If offshore wind is to ramp up its contribution to net zero, rapid deployment of floating wind farms will be needed. This requires political leadership and support to make a reality.
Joe Nai, General Manager Asia Offshore Wind and Shell representative to GWEC Offshore Wind task force, said:
“As floating wind technologies mature it is critical that governments create policy to enable the rapid roll out of new projects in support of global net zero emissions targets. Alongside bottom-fixed offshore wind, solar and hydrogen, floating offshore wind has an opportunity to play a major part in the world’s future energy mix."
