© Supplied by Flotation Energy Confidence in the floating offshore wind sector is declining, with a growing number of players expecting less than 3GW of capacity to come online by 2030.
According to research from Westwood Global Energy Group, its previous poll from 2024 saw over 50% of respondents say that the world would have under 3GW online by 2030. This increased to around 70% in the latest report.
In addition, over 30% of people said that the world could have 3-6GW online by 2030, with that now dipping under 30%.
Westwood’s annual Floating Offshore Wind Survey polled 166 stakeholders, including engineers, product developers, investors, government organisations and the broader supply chain.
The report found that, compared to the previous survey in 2024, most respondents were less optimistic for floating offshore wind.
Last year, 39% of respondents said they were less optimistic about the technology’s future, with 34% saying they were more optimistic.
However, the 2025 survey saw 50% of respondents say they were less optimistic and 24% say they more optimistic.
The report added that the biggest swing in optimism came from developers. Having had the highest percentage of more optimistic responses at 44%, and 25% saying they were less optimistic, now just 15% said they were more optimistic and 63% said they were less.
© Supplied by WestwoodThe declining confidence comes despite several positive developments for floating wind on a global scale in 2024.
Over 1.9GW of capacity across the UK, France and South Korea received subsidies, 9.8GW of floating lease capacity was and up to 11.7GW of lease tenders were launched across the year
The UK has also pushed on with its Celtic Sea leasing round, which could add up to 4.5GW of capacity.
Westwood manager for offshore wind Bahzad Ayoub said: “Progress is happening, but too slowly. The frustration across the sector stems from knowing that momentum exists – but the pace is out of sync with expectations.
“Optimism hasn’t disappeared, but it’s now paired with a grounded mindset.”
Falling optimism
When asked what the biggest financial barriers, respondents to the survey said that high upfront costs and limited investor confidence were their biggest concerns.
Developers noted though that they had less concern about lack of access to finance and limited insurance options compared to 2024.
For non-financial concerns, port infrastructure limitations and lack of technology standardisation held their place from last year as the top issues listed by developers, the supply chain and others.
Investing in new port infrastructure was among the top measures given for governments to accelerate floating wind, with 65% of responses.
In addition, creating dedicated leasing or support pots for floating wind (separate to other technologies) was also listed among the top supports government could offfer.
In the UK, concerns have also been raised recently that the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) is also holding back floating wind projects.
However, the UK is still seen as the global leader in floating offshore wind, with respondents voting it as the technology’s front-runner. France saw increased confidence, moving from fourth place to second.
China and the US were the big losers, falling from third to sixth and seventh to tenth respectively.
