The offshore wind industry will drive the creation of 8 million jobs globally, and attracting US$ 1.3 billion of cumulative investment which will lead to the build out of over 400GW of electricity generating capacity by 2040.
This vision comes from Rethink Energy’s latest forecast entitled, “Offshore wind to drive 8m jobs, is key to decarbonization,” a global study on the technology and key drivers behind a market which shows no signs of slowing down in the run up to 2040.
Rethink Energy predicts that by 2030, the global offshore wind capacity will have risen from 25GW today to 164GW, before kicking on again as floating wind turbines emerge as a separate extra market during the 2030s. This will drive annual offshore wind installations towards 30GW a year, leaving the world with 418GW of wind energy by 2040, providing almost 5% of global electricity.
While currently led by Europe, the Asia-Pacific region (including China) is set to become the largest market within the next 20 years, with the US lagging way behind due to its conflicting politics, as well as its lack of maritime and transmission readiness. China will overtake the UK as the world leader in terms of installed capacity in 2026, when it will be responsible for over half of the offshore wind capacity in the Asia Pacific region and nearly a quarter globally.