Led by European utilities, the offshore wind industry is poised for substantial scaling over the next decade, with the global installed base expected to grow to nearly 45 GW in 2020 according to a new market study from Emerging Energy Research (EER).

With large northern European utilities driving the industry forward in the short term, the stage is being set for North America and Asia offshore development as well, according to EER. Asia and North America are currently looking to Europe for technology and cost benchmarking. Between 2010 and 2020, these two regions will contribute nearly 25% of the total new offshore capacity installed worldwide, according to EER. In Europe, tapped-out onshore markets and higher capacity factors offshore are driving governments to incentivise the technology, providing key support to drive industrial build-out.