Huge Six Months for Offshore Wind Despite COVID-19

July 16, 2020

The offshore wind sector had a huge surge in the first 6 months of 2020, with a staggering US$ 35 billion being invested so far. Research conducted by the group BloombergNEF, stated that the global pandemic has had little impact on the offshore wind market, with the sector enjoying a continuous upward trend throughout the year.

Investors have committed money to 28 new offshore windfarms within the first six months of this year. These investments total more than 4 times those made in the first six months of the previous year.  Albert Cheung, BNEF’s head of analysis, said: “We expected to see Covid-19 affecting renewable energy investment in the first half, via delays in the financing process and to some auction programmes. There are signs of that in both solar and onshore wind, but the overall global figure has proved amazingly resilient – thanks to offshore wind.”

Some of the biggest investments ever made in the offshore windfarm sector occurred this year. These included the Hollandse Kust Zuid backed by Swedish giants Vattenfall and the US$ 3.8 billion Seagreen Offshore Windfarm Project.

Looking at the figures by country, China was still the largest market, investing US$ 41.6 billion in the first half of 2020, up 42% from the same period in 2019.  Europe invested US$ 36.5 billion dollars, an increase of 50%, while the United States slipped by 30% to US$ 17.8 billion dollars.  Japan saw its financing increase by 14% to about US$ 10.8 billion, whilst India dropped by 49% to US $2.7 billion.

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    by Harry Topham