Speaking to Utility Week, business advisor at the Council, James Brodie, said: “Offshore wind is definitely somewhere where we in the UK are fairly advanced, whereas in China it is fairly nascent. So that is a key focus for the UK government, to try and leverage that skill in the Chinese market.”
“In terms of installed capacity, it is number one in the world for solar, and number one in the world for onshore wind,” he continued.
“I’d say that offshore wind is a key area where the UK has boasted larger installed capacity and better technologies than what China has to offer right now, and that’s mostly thanks to the skills we’ve got from the oil and gas industry, which has given us more deep water technology. We’ve been able to move up that technology curve much faster than some other industries.”
According to Renewable UK, the UK has been the world leader in offshore wind since October 2008, with as much capacity already installed as the rest of the world combined. The total offshore generating capacity in UK waters provides almost 15 TWh of electricity every year.
The UK’s offshore capacity is currently 5 GW, with industry projections suggesting a total of around 6 GW of capacity will be installed by 2016 and around 10 GW installed by 2020, by which point offshore wind will supply between 8 and 10 per cent of the UK’s electricity per year.
In stark contrast, China’s offshore total is currently 0.66 GW, accounting for 0.57 per cent of the country’s total wind capacity.