Europe has the potential of reaching a total of 70GW of installed offshore wind energy by 2030.
This is according to WindEurope’s central scenario, while the high scenario assumes that 99GW of offshore wind energy will be installed, with low assumptions of 49GW by 2030.
According to the central scenario, the North Sea is expected to see the majority of offshore installations with almost 48GW, while the Baltic Sea will highly surpass its current capacity of 1.5GW and is assumed to have 9GW installed.
The cumulative wind energy capacity could amount to 323GW in the central scenario, which means more than double of the capacity installed by the end of 2016 (160GW). This capacity would produce 888TWh of electricity equal to 30% of the European Unions’s power demand.
The high scenario shows the expected 397GW of total wind capacity, while the low scenario assumes 256.4GW, 20% less than central scenario.
At the end of June this year, the EU had a total capacity of 14GW offshore, WindEurope reports.