The world added more than 6 gigawatts (GW) of new offshore wind capacity in 2020, with China responsible for over half of installations in the sector, according to new figures published Thursday.

The data, from the Global Wind Energy Council’s market intelligence unit, shows China installed 3.06 GW last year. Its nearest rival, the Netherlands, installed a little under 1.5 GW of capacity. The U.S. installed just 12 megawatts of offshore capacity last year. For three years in a row now, China has been the number one country for offshore wind installations.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the GWEC, an international trade association for the sector, said offshore wind was still able to enjoy its second best year for installations.

The U.K. remains the number one market for cumulative installations, with over 10.2 GW of capacity, closely followed by China, which now has just under 10 GW.

All in all, global offshore wind capacity stands at more than 35 GW, the GWEC says. Capacity refers to the maximum amount of energy that installations can produce, not what they’re necessarily generating.

Source: CNBC