Offshore wind energy refers to renewable electricity produced by wind turbines installed in shallow waters of less than 50 m deep, unless it’s a floating offshore wind platform.

They’re usually located within 30 km of the coastline. Coastal winds help to turn the wind turbine blades, spinning a shaft connected to a generator. This generator turns the kinetic energy into electricity, which is sent to substations and fed into the electricity grid or distributed to industrial users.

Wind turbines in offshore wind farms tend to be bigger than the turbines used for onshore wind farms.

What are the advantages of offshore wind production?

At sea, the winds are blowing strong, and in a continuous manner. Implementing wind farms at sea further from the coast and far from any kind of interference in the wind, means greater capacity of generation. It also holds less impact on the landscape as the wind farms are located further and further and beyond the horizon line.

Another advantage of offshore wind farms is that they are less disruptive to most landscapes, as these wind turbines are often located beyond the horizon. Surrounding populations are therefore less likely to see and hear these turbines operating. And with negligible impacts on most people, power generators can also install bigger wind turbines, and more of them.

Offshore wind: assets and opportunities

• A cleaner energy
• A greater capacity of generation
• The opportunity to fuel the green hydrogen industry/production
• An efficient solution for states to gain energy independence
• A greener and specialized supply chain, with the emergence of new expertise and new jobs
• An energy source that respects the local biodiversity, developing research and technologies that respect the fauna and flora
• A perpetual source of innovation

The sector will keep on growing: countries are increasing their targets and we are now able to develop offshore wind farms faster and with reducing costs. Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom will continue being the countries with the largest fleet of wind turbines in Europe. Growth will slow in Germany and will accelerate in Spain and Sweden.

Several reports and studies are reinforcing the idea that wind energy will play a key role in the necessary energy transition to meet the challenges of climate change and produce clean energy.

Universal Kraft works with wind for over 20 years, developing greenfield and brownfield wind energy operations throughout the globe. Today we are involved in large scale wind developments in Europe, Taiwan and in the Caribbean. Hydrogen production facilities combined with existing wind energy farms in Sweden and Canada are currently being designed and engineered, for execution in the coming year. Discover all our projects here.