By Kari Williamson
The 866 MW represents 235 grid-connected offshore wind turbines and €2.4 billion in investment. The turbines are part of 9 offshore wind farms under construction.
New offshore wind installations |
|
| 2008 | 327 MW |
| 2009 | 584 MW |
| 2010 | 883 MW |
| 2011 | 866 MW |
When completed, the offshore wind farms could add a total of 2375 MW to Europe's capacity.
Cumulatively, Europe now has 1371 offshore wind turbines across 53 wind farms in 10 countries, totalling over 3.8 GW.
“The offshore wind sector witnessed a stable market in 2011,” says Julian Wilkes, Policy Director at EWEA.
“Despite the economy-wide financial squeeze, 2011 saw a 40% increase on the previous year in offshore non-recourse debt financing, up from €1.46bn in 2010 to €2.05bn in 2011.
“The strong project pipeline and financial developments highlight the importance of countries continuing to provide and develop stable long-term frameworks for offshore wind power in order to allow the industry to continue its development,” he adds.
Britain saw the largest share of new offshore wind installations with 87% of the total being installed in British waters.
Siemens was the largest offshore wind turbine provider in terms of MW, supplying 80%. SSE and RWE Innogy were the most active developers, while DONG continued to be the most active equity player in the European offshore wind market.
The EWEA believes Europe could have 40 GW of offshore wind by 2020.
