Growth of Offshore Wind Market Spins Out to Related Markets

Saturday 16 June 2012, Amsterdam

The new report "Vessels, Cables and Foundations in the Offshore Wind market - Global Market Size, Cost Analysis, Market Share and Demand-Supply Scenario to 2020 " suggests that the growth of major wind power markets in the US, Germany, Spain, India, Italy and France is expected to slow down during the coming years, but emerging markets within Asia-Pacific and South and Central America are expected to easily fill this void.

In the near future, the offshore wind power market is expected to boom, with mega wind power projects due to become operational. Offshore wind power development is mainly concentrated in Europe, which accounts for over 3.2 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power capacity. While offshore wind power only accounts for 1.5% of the total wind market at the moment, with large scale commercial offshore wind farms currently in the planning and construction phases, capacity is expected to reach 52.1 GW in 2020, representing 7.1% of the total market.

Related markets are also benefitting from the growing popularity of offshore wind power. For example, offshore wind turbine installation vessel revenue increased from an estimated $21.4m in 2006 to $161.2m in 2010, and is predicted to reach $2,156.5m by 2020 . Vessels are crucial for the installation of large offshore wind foundations and turbines. Around 12 new second generation vessels are expected to be in European seas in 2012 and 2013 to cater to the growing offshore wind power installations.