The global offshore wind market is expected to grow to 330 gigawatts (GW) by 2040 from only 34GW in 2020, Wood Mackenzie reported.

This comes as the analyst sees the number of countries that will have large-scale offshore wind farms rise to 24 from the current nine. WoodMac estimated the cumulative capital expenditure across the globe in the sector will reach US$1t by 2031.

“Companies are now jostling to bag a share of the trillion-dollar offshore wind industry. The pipeline of proposed projects grew 66% last year and is now nearly three times as high as our projected forecast offshore wind capacity in 2030,” Soeren Lassen, Head of Offshore Wind Research, said.

“The challenge is that few opportunities in the offshore wind space will go uncontested.”

Lassen said offshore wind investment will mainly be affected by its cost competitiveness, but above this, four other factors could influence the success of companies in investing in the industry. This includes local content, systems integration, ecological mitigation, and sustainability.

“The focus is now shifting to multiple criteria to determine tender and lease auction outcomes, and the criteria in individual markets will differ,” Chris Seiple, Vice Chairman for Energy Transition, said.

“To succeed, investors need to be able to anticipate the important criteria in each market, have the capability and skills to execute and meet those criteria, and understand the trade-offs and synergies between them.”