A total of 118 new offshore wind turbines were fully connected to the grid in the first half of 2010 according to new statistics released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). Those 118 turbines have a capacity of 333MW – well over half the 577MW installed offshore last year – showing continuing strong growth in offshore wind power despite the financial crisis.
In addition, 151 turbines (440MW) were installed but were not yet connected to the grid. Overall 16 offshore wind farms totalling 3,972MW were under construction. Of these, four became fully operational: Poseidon in Denmark, Alpha Ventus in Germany, Gunfleet Sands and Robin Rigg in the UK. To date in Europe there are 948 offshore wind turbines in 43 fully operational offshore wind farms, with a total capacity of 2,396MW. Among the developers, E.ON Climate and Renewables developed 64% of the offshore capacity grid connected during the first half of 2010, followed by DONG (21%) and Vattenfall (11%). Among the manufacturers, Siemens accounted for 55% of the offshore capacity grid connected during the first half of 2010, Vestas 36% and REpower 9%.
