Insights for the power and renewables sector

The energy sector is highly regulated, and for good reason. Regulations are key to providing stable, affordable and sustainable energy in every economy and society. Therefore, energy belongs in the ‘vital infrastructure’ category.

The U.S. offshore wind industry is at a tipping point. While there is currently just 30 MW of offshore wind installed around the US coastline, the pipeline is predicted to be 25 GW by 2035. The market outlook is also changing rapidly. At the end of 2017, only 400 MW of offshore wind projects had announced a power offtake mechanism. By the end of 2019, we expect that figure to be close to 7 GW.

The past ten years has seen over 20 GW of offshore wind capacity connected to grids worldwide. In the next ten years, we will see around another 130 GW installed. The lessons learnt from past offshore wind projects – from standardized products to connection approaches – will help developers and investors address new challenges when moving further offshore and building truly transnational grids.

As offshore wind energy costs have fallen, more developers, utilities, suppliers and investors are assessing emerging markets with a view to expanding into new regions. But what opportunities exist for European developers?