China is leading in offshore wind capacity growth from 2 gigawatts (GW) recorded last year to an anticipated 31 GW over the next decade, a report by global natural resources consultancy Wood Mackenzie said Wednesday.
According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region's offshore wind capacity will rise 20-fold to 43 GW by 2027. After China, neighboring Taiwan is set to follow accounting for 20 percent, or 8.7 GW, of offshore wind capacity by 2027, making it the largest offshore wind market in Asia-Pacific excluding China by 2020.
"Currently, Taiwan relies heavily on coal, gas and nuclear for power. However, the government has pledged to shut down nuclear plants by 2025, thereby leaving a void of 5 GW of power capacity to be filled," the report said, adding offshore wind was poised to fill this gap as more than 5.7 GW of projects have been approved and planned for commissioning by 2025.
Driven by declining prices, a few markets in the Asia-Pacific have set ambitious offshore wind targets, the report said. "However, not every market is set for success as a stable domestic offshore supply chain and strong government support are needed to sustain growth in the long term," it cautioned.
Outside of China, local turbine suppliers in Korea and Japan are investing in new and larger offshore machines comparable to Western turbines.
In addition, to support the ambitious growth in offshore wind capacity in Asia-Pacific countries, maritime infrastructure, the establishment of a local vessel fleet to install and service offshore wind farms, along with upgrades to transmission systems will be undertaken although this will take time to build up, the report said.
(Anadolu Agency)
