Page 14: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2020)

2020 Trends: O? shore Wind 2020 Trends & the

Tremendous Potential of Offshore Wind

The promise of a burgeoning offshore wind industry in the U.S. promises to buoy the offshore energy, maritime, port and logistics sectors for the coming decade. Philip Lewis, Director of

Research, World Energy Reports and a sector expert, discusses the trends to watch.

By Philip Lewis orld Energy Reports we are excited about the lution in core offshore wind markets, like the UK – we have development of offshore wind from a fringe seen the establishment of local manufacturing and more im- technology to a cost competitive option for portantly operations and maintenance support infrastructure

W grid and off-grid energy solutions. witnessed by port developments and re-developments, on-

Most people are unaware that the ? rst offshore wind tur- shore monitoring and control bases, and offshore inspection, bines were installed some 30 years ago and that the activity repair and maintenance activity. (See Figure 2) in the ? rst two decades was dominated by northern European This positive economic development will be seen again and countries. (See Figure 1) Because of the activity, supply again in all emerging offshore wind markets and will offer chains were developed in this region. many positive bene? ts for local economies.

The last decade saw the industrialization of offshore wind With the wider global acceptance of offshore wind, at World and the entry of China and to a lesser extent Taiwan as sig- Energy Reports we see some interesting trends developing. ni? cant market players. • First, offshore wind is playing a larger role in grid supply

The ? rst half of this decade is seeing a surge in offshore in key markets; wind capacity as wind goes more global, with new players • Secondly, offshore wind is seen as a solution for a range like the US and Japan adding capacity to the system. of off-grid applications such as decarbonisation of power

A good example of a developing offshore wind market is the supply to oil and gas operations and hydrogen produc-

UK, where we hear Prime Minister Johnson setting a target tion; and of 40,000 MW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030. • Thirdly, is the dawn of commercial scale ? oating wind

At World Energy Reports we expect the UK to move from farms that access better quality wind resources and pro- around 11,000MW of installed capacity at the end of 2020 to vide some exciting supply chain opportunities.

close to 24,500MW by 2025. The surge in capacity additions will be underpinned by several gigawatt scale mega projects. Turbines (and projects) Get Bigger

It is not too unrealistic to talk about a green industrial revo- Offshore wind is becoming more mainstream and as it does,

Figure 1 Figure 2 14 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • December 2020

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