2011 was a stable year for the offshore wind industry with 235 new offshore wind turbines grid connected, worth approximately 2.4 billion Euros.

European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) published its annual offshore wind statistics for 2011 in Brussels showing that 235 new turbines with a total power capacity of 866 Megawatts (MW) were fully grid connected across nine offshore wind farms.

Nine offshore wind farms currently under construction will bring online an additional 2375 MW – increasing the EU’s total installed offshore wind power capacity by 62%.

Across the EU, a total of 1371 offshore turbines have now been grid connected, with a total power capacity of 3813 Megawatts in 53 wind farms in 10 European countries.

EWEA’s target for installed EU offshore wind power capacity by 2020 is 40,000 MW, producing approximately 4% of the EU’s total electricity consumption.

“The offshore wind sector witnessed a stable market in 2011”, said Justin Wilkes, Policy Director of EWEA. “The strong project pipeline and financial developments highlight the importance of countries continuing to provide and develop stable long-term frameworks for offshore wind power in order to allow the industry to continue its development,” he went on.

The majority (87%) of all newly installed and grid connected offshore wind power in 2011 was in British waters. Siemens supplied 80% of the MW installed offshore last year while SSE and RWE Innogy were the most active developers and DONG Energy continued to be the most active equity player in offshore wind power.

Please find the details in “The European offshore wind industry key 2011 trends and statistics” .

Following the last year’s amendment to the Act on maritime areas, investors in Poland decided to commence procedures pertaining to the applications for the issuance of a permission to build and operate artificial islands, structures and devices in the exclusive economic zone. 31 applications have been filed with the Ministry of Infrastructure.