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Investment in Offshore Wind Energy Quadruples

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Despite the COVID-19 pandemic sparking an unprecedented shock to the economy, offshore wind investments around the globe more than quadrupled in the first six months of 2020.

Investors have greenlit 28 new offshore windfarms worth a combined £28bn so far this year, according to a new report. This is more than four times the amount of investment recorded during the same time period in 2019, and is more than the investment recorded for the whole of 2019 combined.

According to the report by Bloomberg NEF (BNEF), the half-year figures for offshore wind investments have more than nullified the drop in investment seen after the COVID-19 outbreak.

The BNEF’s head of analysis, Albert Cheung, said: “We expected to see Covid-19 affecting renewable energy investment in the first half, via delays in the financing process and to some auction programmes. There are signs of that in both solar and onshore wind, but the overall global figure has proved amazingly resilient – thanks to offshore wind.”

Some of offshore wind’s largest ever investments have been made, with SSE spending $3.8bn on their Seagreen project in Firth of Forth in Scotland, and Vattenfall investing $3.9bn in the Hollandse Kust Zuid array off the coast of the Netherlands.

Seventeen offshore wind projects have been greenlit in China in the first half of 2020, with the Guangdong Yudean Group leading the way with their $1.8bn investment in the Yangjiang Yangxi Shapaat project.

As to why offshore wind projects are booming in the wake of the global economic downturn, BNEF believes one reason to be the two-thirds reduction in cost since 2012, as well as the rush to take advantage of government subsidies for offshore wind projects in China before they expire at the end of next year.

The International Energy Agency has warned that there would be a record $400bn drop in energy investment globally, however the renewable energy sector is anticipated to show the most resilience.

Chief editor of BNEF, Angus McCrone, said that the full-year figures will give a clearer picture on the overall effect of COVID-19 on investment in green energy:

“Renewables have been helped by vastly improved competitiveness and by investor appetite for assets offering secure cash flows. However, project developers face the challenge that key people, whether at the permitting, financing or construction stages, can’t meet face-to-face. And buyers of small-scale solar systems are sensitive to changes in consumer confidence.”

Harry Pererra
Harry Pererra

Harry turns on his experience in journalism and programming to write about the latest news in the world of tech and the environemtn. When he isn’t writing for usave he is working towards his Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and prefers dogs to cats.

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