Europe’s offshore wind industry brought online a record 4200MW of offshore wind capacity in 2023.

The amount was up 40% on the 1.7GW installed in 2022, according to figures published by WindEurope. The Netherlands, France and the UK installed the most new capacity.

Offshore wind investments in Europe also reached a new record. A total of €30bn was raised across eight wind farm projects, which will finance 9GW of new offshore capacity.

In 2023 the European Union also published its EU Wind Power Package with 15 immediate actions to support the European wind sector. In addition, 26 European Governments signed the European Wind Charter, committing to swiftly implement the actions ascribed to them in the Wind Power Package.

Photo: Nicholas Doherty

In the UK the Government raised the ceiling price by 66% for the upcoming offshore auction round (AR6) which could help the UK attract record investment in offshore wind in 2024. Orsted reached final investment decision on Europe’s biggest project, the 2.9GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the UK.

If all countries run their 2024 auctions as planned at least 40GW will be auctioned this year. Germany, Denmark, the UK, France, and Netherlands are the top five countries auctioning capacity over the next two years.

Further details can be read in ReNews and from WindEurope.