Eight new wind farms consisting of 199 offshore wind turbines were connected to the European grid throughout 2009, resulting in a combined energy generating capacity of 577 MW. The EWEA expects the completion of ten further European offshore wind farms in 2010.
There are also 17 offshore wind farms under construction, almost half of which are planned in UK waters. A further 52 offshore wind farms have gained full consent in European water, including the North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative, an agreement for which was recently signed by the UK, Sweden, Denmark, France and Germany.
“This is an incredibly good result considering the continued difficulties of obtaining project finance for large projects”, said Christian Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive.
Mr Kjaer called upon governments and the European Commission to provide policy frameworks to further stimulate investor interest.
Article continues below…In 2009, the turnover of the offshore wind industry was approximately €1.5 billion ($2.3 billion), and EWEA expects this to double to approximately €3 billion ($4.7 billion) by 2010.
More than 100 GW of projects are at various stages of planning, which could result in enough power to meet ten per cent of the electricity demand in Europe.
