According to the report launched by GWEC, "
Global Offshore Report 2023", Portugal, the United Kingdom, Norway, China and Japan are the top five markets for floating wind installations currently in operation.
"The sector is grappling with the shift from a handful of single turbine demonstrators and the five wind farms that are operating or under construction today: Hywind Scotland & Kincardine (UK); Windfloat Atlantic (Portugal); Hywind Tampen (Norway); and Goto (Japan). Much applied learning needs to come out of the experience of building and operating these 32 turbines spread across the globe, in addition to the ten single-turbine demonstrators also in operation", emphasises the institution.
However, by the end of 2030, the UK, South Korea, China, Portugal and Norway will likely become the top five floating markets.
GWEC Market Intelligence predicts that floating wind energy will be fully commercialised by the end of this decade. In addition, multi-GW levels of new installations are expected to be reached after 2029/2030.
Regarding regional distribution, the study predicts that Europe will contribute 66 per cent of the total number of installations added between 2023 and 2032. This is followed by the Asia-Pacific region (32 per cent) and North America (6 per cent). By the end of 2032, a total of 26.2 GW of floating wind energy is likely to have been installed worldwide, increasing its contribution to total wind installations from the current 0.3 per cent to 6 per cent.