Global offshore wind to hit 100GW this year

According to the report, 374 offshore wind farms are operating around the world, up from 347 twelve months ago. Global offshore wind capacity has increased by 8% over the past 12 months, from 82.5GW to 89.2GW fully operational (an increase of 6.7GW).

2025 was the fourth biggest year of delivery of offshore wind capacity on record (8.8GW) and the report forecasts that 18.8GW could be delivered in 2026 with projects completing in China, UK, Germany, USA, Taiwan, Poland and elsewhere.

The global offshore wind pipeline now stands at 1565 projects at every stage of development, with a capacity of 1157GW in 49 markets. Looking ahead, the report forecasts that 236GW could be operational worldwide by the end of 2030 – more than two and a half times as much global capacity as we have today. 671 offshore wind projects are expected to be fully operational by 2030.

In the UK, operational capacity has risen from 14.8GW to 16.1GW (an increase of 1.3GW) over the last 12 months, with the number of completed wind farms rising from 43 to 45. A further 11.5GW are under construction. In total, the UK has 127 UK projects at any stage of development (91.9GW).

Eighty four per cent of offshore wind capacity that went operational over the last 12 months was in China and the UK.

Worldwide £39 billion of capital investment was committed across 16.8GW of financial investment decisions in offshore wind projects over the last year, according to the report. It also notes that capital investment in UK offshore wind awarded contracts in the government’s latest auction (Allocation Round 7) could reach £31.5 billion.

RenewableUK’s chief executive Tara Singh said: ‘A significant level of private investment has gone into new offshore wind projects worldwide over the last 12 months, with final investment decisions worth nearly £40 billion across 38 offshore wind farms.’