By J. Matthew Roney Wind power is the world’s leading source of
renewable electricity, excluding hydropower, with 238,000
megawatts of capacity installed at the start of 2012. Thus far,
almost all of this wind power has been tapped on land; worldwide
just 4,600 megawatts of offshore wind farms were operating as of
mid-2012. Offshore wind capacity is growing quickly, however,
expanding nearly six-fold since 2006. Twelve countries now have
wind turbines spinning offshore, and more will be joining them
to take advantage of the powerful winds blowing over the oceans.
More than 90 percent of offshore wind installations are in
Europe. Denmark erected the world’s first offshore wind farm in
1991—the 5-megawatt Vindeby project. Offshore wind grew
sporadically through the 1990s, as Sweden and the Netherlands
also added capacity. Denmark added 400 megawatts of offshore
capacity from 2001 to 2003. Since then, however, despite several
other countries joining in, the United Kingdom has totally
dominated the market. Of the