UK leads Europe’s offshore wind installations for first half of 2019

The UK had the most offshore wind installation activity in Europe during H1 2019, adding 931MW, according to new figures.

The report from WindEurope shows the UK also installed 187MW of onshore wind capacity during the first half of 2019.

Europe added 4.9GW of new wind capacity in the first half of the year, up from 4.5GW for the same period in 2018.

New offshore wind installations in Europe reached 1.9GW in H1 2019, up from the 1.1GW added during the same period in 2018.

While installations of new offshore wind capacity across Europe have increased, onshore installations have declined.

Europe installed 2.9GW of onshore wind in the first half of the year, compared to 3.3GW in the first half of 2018. This decline has been attributed to poor installation figures from Germany.

Germany added 287MW of onshore wind during the first half of the year, which was its worst H1 performance since 2000.

Onshore wind installations are expected to pick up during the second half of the year, particularly in the Nordic region where installation activity traditionally peaks during the summer months.

According to WindEurope, turbine orders and market activity suggest significant volumes will be grid connected in Sweden and Norway during the second half of the year. Large volumes are also expected in Spain following the auction of 4.1GW to projects in 2017 and 2018.

WindEurope chief policy officer Pierre Tardieu said: “It was a good start to the year for offshore wind growth. But onshore wind installations were poor these past six months.

“Germany had the lowest first half of the year for new onshore wind installations since 2000. Permitting challenges remain the key bottleneck: 11GW of onshore wind are stuck in the permitting process in Germany. And the transition to auctions, where so-called ‘community projects’ were allowed to bid in auctions without a permit back in 2017, has been messy. Many of these projects still need to be built.

“With France, which had a good first six months, Spain, Norway and Sweden will now have to help pick up the slack in the second half of the year.”

Tardieu also commented on the challenges ahead if the EU is to meet the net-zero carbon emissions target. “The EU has set a renewable energy target of 32 per cent for 2030 and is talking about a net zero economy by 2050. The rate of installations we’ve seen so far this year won’t get us there,” he said.

“European countries are finalising their National Energy & Climate Plans to 2030. They should be giving as much detail as possible on the policy measures that will allow a smooth and robust deployment of renewables.

“The auction schedule, what they will do to streamline permitting, how they will replace the wind farms that are coming to the end of their operational life. It’s this kind of detail the industry needs to plan ahead and help deliver on Europe’s climate and energy ambitions cost effectively.”

RenewableUK’s head of external affairs Luke Clark said that while the new figures are encouraging for the UK, the industry must continue to progress in order to meet the net-zero target.

“It’s great to see the UK maintaining our global lead in offshore wind in the first half of this year – and today we’ve seen the official opening of another major project, Beatrice, which is the fourth largest in the world,” said Clark.

“The CfD auction currently underway is set to deliver record new offshore wind capacity at record low prices, so with a healthy project pipeline in place the sector will continue to grow in the decades ahead.

“However, we need to make more progress in the onshore wind sector in order to achieve the net zero target, so we’re urging the new government to lift the barriers which are currently preventing us from building new capacity at the lowest cost for consumers.”

In the first half of 2019, Europe invested €8.8 billion (£8.0 billion) in the construction of future wind farms, €6.4 billion (£5.8 billion) in onshore wind and €2.4 billion (£2.1 billion) in offshore wind. These investments are expected to result in 5.9GW being installed and grid connected over the next two to three years.