Offshore windfarms could provide enough electricity to meet global demands

The Paris-based energy watchdog said that the falling costs of offshore wind would make it competitive with fossil energy within the next decade

Analysts at the IEA said that if windfarms were erected across all the useable sites which were no further than 60km (37 miles) off the coast, and where coastal waters were no deeper than 60 metres, they could generate 36,000 terrawatt hours of renewable electricity a year.

“Offshore wind currently provides just 0.3% of global power generation, but its potential is vast,” said the IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol.

The study also predicted that offshore wind would grow to become a 15-fold to emerge as a $1trn (£780bn) industry over the next 20 years and prove to be the next great energy revolution.

The next generation of floating turbines could generate enough energy to meet the world’s total electricity demand 11 times over in 2040, the IEA estimated.

In China, the growth of offshore wind was likely to be even more rapid, said the IEA.

Its offshore wind capacity was forecast to grow from 4 gigawatts to 110 gigawatts by 2040 or 170 gigawatts if it adopted tougher climate targets.

The overlap between the UK’s declining oil and gas industry and the burgeoning offshore wind sector could offer major economic benefits for the UK said Birol.

“Offshore wind provides a huge new business portfolio for major engineering firms and established oil and gas companies which have a strong offshore production experience,” he said. “Our analysis shows that 40% of the work in offshore wind construction and maintenance has synergies with oil and gas practises.”