The European offshore wind industry saw new capacity installations decline by 84 MW (5.34%) in 2014 as the sector stabilised following record figures the previous year, according to a report on key trends and statistics in the European offshore wind industry, published by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) in January.
In 2014, 408 new offshore turbines were fully grid connected, adding 1,483 MW to the European system. The total installed capacity for Europe now stands at 8,045 MW in 74 offshore wind farms in 11 European countries.
EWEA Deputy CEO Justin Wilkes said in a statement that it was not surprising to see a levelling-off of installations in 2014 following a record year in 2013. “The industry has seen exponential growth in the early part of this decade and this is a natural stabilising of that progress."
In 2014, the UK accounted for over half of all new installations (54.8%) with Germany in second place (35.7%) and Belgium (9.5%) making up the rest. However, in 2015, Germany is expected to install more offshore capacity than the UK, which has dominated installations in Europe for the past three years.
After record-breaking installations in 2014, only three projects are expected to be completed in the UK this year, while Germany has eight projects due for completion in the same time frame. “This is obviously a positive sign for the German market as the government continues its drive towards the energiewende1,” EWEA spokesperson Oliver Joy said.
“The UK has more installed offshore capacity than the rest of the world combined but this year shows that other countries in the EU are making serious investments in the sector. The nine financial deals closed in 2014, of which 4 were ‘billion-Euro’ projects, suggest that activity will pick up substantially as of 2017 as these projects begin to hit the water," Wilkes added.
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Offshore wind installations stabilise in 2014 following record figures the previous year
Germany blows UK away in offshore wind farms
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