Page 9: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2010)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 9 $60.7B: Total Offshore Wind Spend

New research released by energy business analysts Douglas-Westwood reveals the world offshore wind market will see expenditure of $60.7B over the next five years. By 2015, annual expenditure will be in excess of $19B.

With over 3GW of capacity online by the end of 2010 and a further 2GW under construction at present, the off- shore wind industry is growing extremely quickly. Over the five year period to 2015, more than 11GW of new capac- ity will be installed. The UK, Germany and China are the three biggest markets, which together will install almost 9.3GW, or 83%, of total global capacity for the period. The UK will continue its position as the leading market for offshore wind through the next five years with over 4.4GW of new capacity coming online. For the UK, the bigger success story is the momentum which is building in the supply chain with multiple offshore turbine manufacturers establishing themselves in the country. Critically, in the midst of big cuts to public spending, it has been made clear that government support for renewable energy and wind in particular is to continue. Although the UK has helped build the momentum in recent years, the large German market is now coming to life with project construction final- ly underway and tendering ongoing on projects for the next five years. Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands is now showing commitment to the sector, which should allow some of the many planned projects to reach construction. “While Europe has been the hot-spot of activity to date. We anticipate that China will become the world leader in offshore wind, overtaking the UK early in the next decade,” said John Westwood, Chairman of Douglas-Westwood. “Having entered the offshore wind industry only recently, the country has massive ambition. A succession of small projects is now underway with construction of many larger projects imminent. Over 3 billion is expected to be spent in China over the next five years.” http://www.dw-1.com