Already the world leader in offshore wind, Europe is aiming to turbocharge its installed capacity this decade and beyond, with more than 238 GW of projects being tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The pipeline is mostly concentrated around the North Sea, which is already home to the majority of Europe's offshore wind fleet. Led by Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK, North Sea nations aim to have 120 GW installed offshore by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050.
But project development is also happening further afield, with new offshore wind markets emerging in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.
Baltic Sea nations are aiming to build nearly 20 GW of offshore wind by 2030. While that includes new capacity in established markets Germany and Denmark, it may also see the likes of Poland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania embark on their first offshore projects.
Europe's installed offshore wind fleet will exceed 108 GW by 2030, according to Market Intelligence data.
Additional gigawatts of new capacity will also be added to the pipeline as European nations progress with plans to auction off new areas of their seabeds for wind development.
The remainder of 2023 will see the likes of Norway, the Netherlands and Germany award new capacity, while the UK's fifth clean energy auction is also poised to come to a conclusion in the next two months.
The looming development frenzy has led some observers to call for investments in Europe's supply chain capacity, which they say is not big enough to keep pace with required installations.
Spiraling capital costs are also putting pressure on developers and making some projects unprofitable to deliver.
Project development in Europe's offshore wind sector is being undertaken by a diverse range of players.
Heavyweights Ørsted A/S, Vattenfall AB, RWE AG and Iberdrola SA are among the leaders, with more than 50 GW of operating and planned capacity among them, according to Market Intelligence data.
Swedish developer OX2 AB (publ) also makes it into the five largest owners, having embarked on a mammoth project development effort in Sweden and Finland alongside Ingka Holding BV subsidiary Ingka Investments.
Ownership data only includes power plants in active development by companies as of June 9, and not those yet to be awarded in auctions.
In July, BP PLC and TotalEnergies SE were awarded a combined 7 GW of new capacity in Germany after an auction that could have widespread consequences for Europe's offshore wind sector.
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