Growth for EU offshore wind power in 2010

In total, 883 MW of new capacity were installed in 2010 in nine wind farms in five countries, making a total of 2,964 MW. The installed offshore wind power capacity now supplies the equivalent of 2.9 million average EU households with electricity – comparable with the amounts of power consumed by the cities Berlin and Brussels together – from a total of 1,136 offshore wind turbines. In a normal wind year they would produce 11.5 Terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity.

These figures are published by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) in its “European offshore wind industry - key trends and statistics 2010”.
 
They show the United Kingdom to be European (and world) leader, with a total installed offshore wind capacity of 1,341 MW. The UK is followed by Denmark (854 MW), The Netherlands (249 MW), Belgium (195 MW), Sweden (164 MW), Germany (92 MW), Ireland (25 MW), Finland (26 MW) and Norway with 2.3 MW.
 
During 2010, 29 new offshore turbine models were announced by 21 manufacturers: 44 new turbine models have been announced by 33 manufacturers over the last two years.
 
EWEA forecasts continued strong growth next year. Between 1,000 and 1,500 MW of new offshore wind power capacity is expected to be fully grid connected in Europe during 2011, compared with 883 MW of new capacity in 2010. Ten European wind farms are currently under construction with a total of 3,000 MW – these will more than double the installed capacity in the 45 already grid connected offshore wind farms.