The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released for the 2016 the Innovation Outlook report in which the new technologies and innovative solution for offshore power generation are described.

The paper underlines the great potential that the offshore wind resource represents for the next years’ energy mix. According to IRENA’s analysis, wind power will have to become the leading power generation technology by 2030 in order to ensure a decarbonisation of the global economy.

The innovations presented in the report touch various sectors: the development of new and larger turbines, more effective electrical interconnection inside the windfarms, improved and more economic installation and operation and maintenance processes, new type of foundations.

Attached to the report there is an entire annex dedicated to the floating foundations which are presented as the game changers for offshore wind power.

At the end of the Outlook it is said that the operating capacity is expected to grow up to roughly 400 GW by 2045.

The entire report can be found at the following link.

While the supplement about floating foundations here.