Offshore Wind approaching 7 GW worldwide

Worldwide Offshore wind energy capacity installed. Farshore location are at least 3 nautical miles from the shore, a nearshore location is thus less than 3 nautical miles away from the shore. © Fraunhofer IWES

The offshore wind energy sector has been approaching the 6900 MW capacity globally installed with 90 % of turbines being installed in European waters. The UK is pushing ahead with 776 MW capacity added in the large offshore wind farms London Array, Lincs and Teesside which is half of the 1600 MW added capacity in 2013.

Germany completed the installation of the wind farms Bard Offshore 1 and Riffgat. With 620 MW installed and 2000 MW under construction, the country is gaining grounds in the offshore market.

Offshore R&D activities in Japan resulted in the installation of several prototypes including floating 2-MW offshore turbine installations.

European manufacturers pushed the limits of offshore turbine dimensions preparing for further growth of offshore wind energy worldwide. Prototypes with rotor diameters from 150 m to 164 m and corresponding capacities of 6 to 8 MW have been recently installed.

By the end of 2013 Germany had a total of 34 200 MW wind power installed. An additional 3100 MW capacity installed in 2013 means that it stays on track for German Energiewende renewable expansion targets.

It remains the leading market for wind energy in Europe and the country with third largest installation numbers worldwide, only behind China and the U.S. Capacity growth was at a 10-year maximum as the market share of 3-MW turbines increased substantially. Cumulated global installations reached 318 100 MW.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology has recently published the »Wind Energy Report Germany 2013«.

The Report gives a comprehensive overview on wind energy development in Germany and includes an update on global offshore wind energy installations.

Special reports on relevant industry issues such as offshore LIDAR wind measurements, turbine recycling and hardware-in-the-loop testing for turbine and farm control make the report a worthwhile read for everyone involved in wind energy.

Contact person:

M.Sc. Volker Berkhout
phone: +49 (0)561 7294-477
mail: volker.berkhout@iwes.fraunhofer.de

Dipl.-Ing. Berthold Hahn
Head of department: Wind Farm Planning and Operation
phone: +49 (0)561 7294-229
mail: berthold.hahn@iwes.fraunhofer.de

http://bit.ly/1mQBCvv

Media Contact

Uwe Krengel Fraunhofer-Institut

More Information:

http://www.iwes.fraunhofer.de

All latest news from the category: Power and Electrical Engineering

This topic covers issues related to energy generation, conversion, transportation and consumption and how the industry is addressing the challenge of energy efficiency in general.

innovations-report provides in-depth and informative reports and articles on subjects ranging from wind energy, fuel cell technology, solar energy, geothermal energy, petroleum, gas, nuclear engineering, alternative energy and energy efficiency to fusion, hydrogen and superconductor technologies.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Machine learning algorithm reveals long-theorized glass phase in crystal

Scientists have found evidence of an elusive, glassy phase of matter that emerges when a crystal’s perfect internal pattern is disrupted. X-ray technology and machine learning converge to shed light…

Mapping plant functional diversity from space

HKU ecologists revolutionize ecosystem monitoring with novel field-satellite integration. An international team of researchers, led by Professor Jin WU from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Hong…

Inverters with constant full load capability

…enable an increase in the performance of electric drives. Overheating components significantly limit the performance of drivetrains in electric vehicles. Inverters in particular are subject to a high thermal load,…

Partners & Sponsors