China is leading the race for offshore wind, setting a record for turbine installations in 2021, according to the World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO) annual report.

The report shows that significant investments, driven by a global shift to renewables, resulted in an additional 15.7 GW of offshore wind capacity installed worldwide last year.

China accounted for more than two-thirds of the new capacity. The nation added 12.7 GW to its national grid, increasing its total installed offshore wind capacity to 19.7 GW.

“China is now by far the largest offshore wind market in the world, with almost as much installed capacity as the UK and Germany combined,” the WFO reported.

The significant increase in China was driven by the impending expiry of a tax subsidy at the end of 2021. Project developers and investors chose to rush commissioning ahead of schedule to secure the tax waiver.

In comparison, the UK has an installed capacity of 12.2 GW followed by Germany with 7.7 GW, the Netherlands with 3 GW, Denmark with 2.3 GW and Belgium with 2.6 GW. Globally, installed offshore wind capacity reached 48.2 GW at the end of last year, 40% of which is now installed in China.

Of the 53 offshore wind projects that came on stream last year, 45 were in China, three in the UK, two in the Netherlands and one in Denmark, Taiwan and Norway.