China speed! "Europe loses its top spot"
According to the Financial Times website on August 28th, as Europe loses its top spot, Asia, led by China, is far ahead in offshore wind power installed capacity.
According to the report, industry organizations have found that due to rising costs and supply chain disruptions, Europe has lost its position as the world's largest offshore wind power market and has been replaced by the Asia Pacific region led by China.
According to data from the Global Wind Energy Council, the total installed capacity of offshore wind power worldwide in 2022 was 64.3 gigawatts, with Europe accounting for approximately 47%, while the Asia Pacific region surpassed Europe with nearly 53%.
The world's first 16 MW high-capacity offshore wind turbine has been installed in the northern waters of Fujian.
China alone accounts for nearly 49% of the world's total installed capacity. The Global Wind Energy Council stated in its latest report on the state of the global offshore wind power market that its dominant position shifted after 2021, when the world's total installed capacity was 55.9 gigawatts, with Europe accounting for 50%.
The report states, "In the near future, the increase in offshore wind power capacity is expected to be relatively slow... due to reduced activity levels in the old North Sea market... and the impact of the current challenging market environment."
The Global Wind Energy Council also believes that Europe is unlikely to regain its position as the largest offshore wind power market in the next 10 years, although the region's annual installed capacity is expected to surpass that of the Asia Pacific region starting from 2030.
As the supply chain and interest rate problems caused by the epidemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict increased the costs of turbines, labor and financing, the European offshore wind power industry was struggling. This also leads to losses for manufacturers and project cancellations.
The report mentioned that last month, Sweden's Vattenfar Group suspended plans to build a new offshore wind farm on the east coast of the UK, stating that rising costs mean it is no longer feasible. Earlier this month, Siemens Energy announced that it expects to incur billions of euros in losses this year as it struggles to address the challenges faced by its struggling wind power companies.
The report suggests that these challenges mean that the expected new offshore wind power installed capacity in Europe over the next five years will be lower than previously predicted. The Global Wind Energy Council said that from 2023 to 2027, it is expected that the total installed capacity of offshore wind power in Europe will increase by 34.9 gigawatts, lower than last year's forecast of 40.8 gigawatts.
![China speed! "Europe loses its top spot"](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/d9be347303b96651af1be00825518e5a.jpg)
At the same time, driven by China, the total installed capacity of offshore wind power in the Asia Pacific region is expected to increase by 76.1 gigawatts during the same period.
The Global Wind Energy Council also warned that China's market control of about 70% of key components in offshore wind power projects means that "the restrictive trade policies proposed by the European Union and the United States look certain to face bottlenecks.".
The council said that globally, it is expected to add over 380 gigawatts of offshore wind power installed capacity in the next decade, bringing the total installed capacity to 446 gigawatts by 2032.