Offshore Wind Energy grew by more than 50% in 2010 and is expected to continue at above 50% growth rates over the next several years as the global installed offshore wind capacity multiples by more than 25 times over the next 10 years.The massive investments and government interest in offshore wind farms has attracted a number of companies to this sector.Top Wind Turbine Companies are leading the pack as it falls right in their domain of expertise as Wind Turbines form almost 50% of the cost of a offshore wind park.Other companies with expertise in related  areas such as building foundations for the giant 5 MW and greater capacity offshore wind turbines and the logistics in transporting them also get involved.Shipbuilders from South Korea and Northrop Gruman are also getting in through JV and M&A.European Wind Companies are leading the pack as almost 80% of the current global capacity has been installed in Northern Europe.Also these companies possess a high level of expertise at building and designing wind turbines.Here is a list of the major offshore wind turbine companies.

Offshore Wind Turbine Companies

1) Vestas – Vestas the largest Wind Turbine Company in the World has been facing one setback after another.Stiff competition from China,Slowdown in Wind Energy Farms in the West and now  Wind Blade Problems have formed a perfect storm for this company.However the company is the leading supplier of Offshore Wind Turbines and recently introduced a 5 MW offshore wind turbine with leading offshore wind Danish developer Dong Energy.

2)Siemens – The largest Green Company in the world,Siemens has a strong presence in the Wind Turbine Segment.Along with Vestas,Siemens has supplied more than 80% of the Offshore Wind Turbine to the European offshore wind market till date.Given its huge technological strengths in electrical equipment,power transmission and large project construction,Siemens is looking for a dominant role in the growing offshore wind market .

3) Gamesa (Spain) – Gamesa the Spanish Wind Turbine Producer and Wind Farm Operator has faced the worst year of its history in 2010.Like Vestas and Suzlon,2010 has been a cruel year for the Wind Industry in the Western Markets and the WTG Players dependent on those markets.Gamesa is leading a massive Spanish Research Effort to develop a colossal 15 MW Turbine meant for the fast growing offshore wind sector.But this is a long term plan with 2020 set as the target for the complete development of this new Turbine.The company has also tied up with Northrop Grumman to target the North American offshore wind market which has massive potential which is zero as of today.

4) Suzlon Energy is the biggest Indian Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year.However Suzlon has languished in red ink since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.However things seem to be turning with a slew of orders particularly by Repower.Suzlon is looking to completely buy out its European Wind Turbine producer Repower. REpower Systems has won a contract from Belgian project development company C-Power to supply 48 turbines of the 6M type for the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm.The turbines have a total rated power generating capacity of approximately 295MW.Note Suzlon is also targeting the Indian offshore wind market which needs to install lots of wind energy to meet its RPS target of 15% by 2020.

Note other major wind turbine makers like Nordex,GE,Sinovel,Goldwind are also developing wind power equipment to target the growing offshore wind farm market.

Offshore Wind Farm Developers

Before we look at the major developers here is a very good interactive map of major global offshore wind farms from 4coffshore . Note Europe is leading  in offshore wind energy so it is not a surprise that most of the big devlopers are giant European utilities.

1. Centrica – Centrica is a British company that was formed in 1997 after the demerger from British Gas.The company has a number of energy projects which it owns and operates.Centrica is involved in the operation and building of a number of offshore wind farms like Barrow etc.
2. DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe  headquartered in Denmark.They have 1,035 MW of on- and offshore wind power in operation and 1,316 MW under construction.They are the top wind farm developers along with Vattenfall and E.ON.Dong has built the Barbo Flat,Gunfleet and Barrow offshore wind farms.They are also building the London Array and Walney Offshore Projects in the UK which will take their offshore wind portfolio to over 1 GW in the near future.
3. Airtricity – This Irish Gas and Electricity Utility has won a couple of contracts to build big offshore wind farms in Scotland in Crown Estate bidding Round 2.
4. EDF Group is one of the biggest power utilities in Europe and one of the biggest operators of nuclear power in the world.The company is also the largest producer of power in the UK which has the strongest growth plans in offshore wind energy.The company has won contracts to build offshore wind energy installations in UK
5. ScottishPower Renewables is part of Iberdrola Renovables, the world’s largest developer of renewable energy based out of Spain.They are UK’s leading developer of onshore wind, with over 30 windfarms fully operational, under construction or in planning.
6. E.ON the German powerhouse is one of the world’s largest power and gas companies.with  EUR93 billion in sales in 2010.The company is developing offshore wind farms in Germany and UK.It has a long experience in operating wind farms as well.
7. RWE is another major German utility that is developing big offshore wind farms in Europe taking advantage its expertise after oeprating a large portfolio of land based wind farms.
8. Vattenfall – It is a Swedish company and  one of Europe’s largest utilities.Vattenfall operates close to 900 wind power turbines in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. The world’s largest offshore wind farm, Thanet Wind Farm off the coast of the UK, came into operation in September 2010. In partnership with Scottish Power Renewables, Vattenfall has also been awarded one of the zones in the UK’s Round Three for the development of offshore wind power.
9. SeaEnergy PLC (formerly Ramco Energy plc) is the UK’s only quoted pure play offshore wind development company. Based in Aberdeen, Scotland.SeaEnergy PLC, through its 80% subsidiary SeaEnergy Renewables Limited, has interests in three UK offshore wind farm sites, Beatrice in a joint venture with SSE Renewables, Moray Firth with EDPR and Inch Cape. The Group has also signed a heads of terms agreement to access offshore wind farm projects in Taiwan.

USA

1. Deepwater Wind is a U.S. based offshore wind developer which is developing the Block Island Offshore Wind Farm
2. NRG Bluewater Wind is another US based developer that is building offshore wind projects in the North East of United States .The company is developing offshore wind farms in the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.NRG Bluewater Wind was acquired by NRG Energy one of the biggest independent electricity suppliers in the USA with a huge portfolio of solar and wind projects.
3. Energy Managment Inc. (EMI) is a small developer based in New England which has been fighting for over 10 years to build the Cape Wind Project off Massachussets which has managed to get most of its approvals done though there are still a number of lawsuits against them.

Summary

The Europeans are far ahead of others in owning and operating offshore wind farms.This will give them a big first mover advantage as offshore wind farms are built in other places in the world.Note the learning curve will be steep in offshore wind energy and once they cross that they will gain a huge competitive advantage over other US and Asian wind farm developers.