Golara Mousavian, Consultant, Energy and Infrastucture at AMI, discusses the impact of the latest GWEC report.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)'s annual report for offshore wind provides some promising numbers: 83GW of overall installed capacity, 48GW under construction, 56GW awarded capacity and 100GW auctioned capacity expected in 2025-26 (see some headline numbers below, and full details in the report).

However, the global offshore wind outlook for total additions in the 2025-2029 period has been downgraded from 156.72 GW to 118.56 GW. The report points out some challenges in the industry causing this slowdown (please see the quote below), from infrastructure and supplychain constraints, macroeconomic conditions impacting project economics, slow permitting and auction processes, and policy instability, as well as “rising tide of disinformation”.

The last factor is causing real concerns as it is causing pushbacks against green policies and governments' commitments to climate action in Europe, which has so far been the pioneer in promoting renewable energy- among other green causes. Rise of far-right parties who ride on the mis-information waves to blame renewable energy for anything from high energy prices to power cuts, is an existential threat for the climate action, and wind energy in particular.

Headline numbers from GWEC report:

• 83GW of total capacity, with 8 GW installed and hashtag#grid-connected in 2024
• 56GW new offshore wind awarded globally in 2024 (17.4 GW in China under the ‘grid-parity’ mechanism, 23.2GW in Europe auctioned 23.2 GW, 8.4 GW in US, 3.3 GW in South Korea, 2.7 GW in Taiwan and 1.4GW in Japan)
• 10% annual growth rate of global offshore market each year in the past decade
• China remains the industry leader with half of global capacity, followed by the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan (China). These top five countries accounting for %94 of installations in 2024.

At AMI, we are committed to supporting the industry including the wind turbine blade supply chain, and cable manufacturing in Europe, where our report provides special focus on grid connections and HVDC value chain.

For more information, please contact Golara Mousavian