Offshore wind capacity additions in Europe to break records in 2022, driven by UK developments

New offshore wind capacity additions in Europe are poised to hit a record high this year, topping 4 gigawatts (GW) for the first time and more than doubling additions seen in 2021, Rystad Energy research shows. The continent’s capacity additions in 2022 will hit 4.2 GW, beating the 2021 total of 1.8 GW and topping the previous annual record of 3.8 GW set in 2019.

New capacity additions are expected to grow further in the coming years, almost doubling again in 2023 to 7.3 GW and jumping to 8.6 GW in 2025. Annual capacity additions in 2024 are expected to slow down due to project timing, but high construction activity is likely to lead to the projected record-high commissioning numbers for 2025.

The record-high capacity additions will be driven primarily by UK projects that will add 3.2 GW of capacity, a new annual high for the country, beating the previous record of 2.1 GW set in 2018. The acceleration of installed capacity in the country comes from three large projects that are expected to be fully commissioned in 2022 and that will be the three most significant projects in Europe in 2022.

“Europe is the world’s most mature offshore wind region, but Chinese installations have dominated global additions in recent years. Chinese projects represented 85% of all global capacity additions in 2021, with Europe only contributing 10%. But that looks set to change this year, and the continent is expected to continue ramping up capacity additions through the end of the decade,” says Rystad Energy offshore wind analyst Anubhav Venkatesh.