Renewable

April 21 (Renewables Now) - Europe is expected to add 4.2 GW of offshore wind capacity this year above the 1.8 GW installed in 2021 and its previous record of 3.8 GW registered in 2019, according to Rystad Energy.

Installations in 2022 will be driven by the UK, which will add a record 3.2 GW as three large-scale projects are fully commissioned -- Ørsted’s 1.4-GW Hornsea Two, RWE’s majority owned 857-MW Triton Knoll and the 950-MW Moray East, which is majority owned by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDP Renovaveis and Engie.

RWE will also complete the 342-MW Kaskasi project in Germany, which will be the country’s first offshore wind farm to go live since 2020 and will see the country rank third in terms of installations in Europe for 2022. Second will be France, which will commission its first commercial offshore wind project -- the 480-MW Saint-Nazaire scheme. Elsewhere, Norway is expected to commission the 88-MW Hywind Tampen floating project, Italy its first offshore wind farm, the 30-MW Taranto facility, and Spain is set to add floating demonstration projects.

Looking ahead, Europe is expected to install 7.3 GW in 2023 and 8.6 GW in 2025, with a slowdown attributed to project timing in 2024. Installations till 2025 will be fuelled by the UK, but Germany is also resuming offshore wind activity and the Netherlands will restart additions in 2023. France is expected to add around 3 GW between 2022 and 2025, and Denmark to build around 1.5 GW between 2023 and 2025. Poland is seen to commission its first offshore wind farm in 2025, adding around 1.4 GW.

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