A mix of supply chain issues, long permitting procedures, political uncertainty, and even several incidents within a short period could all point to the offshore wind sector lifting its foot off the gas pedal. But is it really so? On the surface, the United States may be one of the countries where offshore wind has had a really tough time lately. The US offshore wind industry took hit after hit this year with the first big one occurring in April when three projects from its third solicitation round were all scrapped – the provisionally awarded Attentive Energy One, Community Offshore Wind, and Excelsior Wind. The developers and GE Vernova could not reach an agreement over which turbines to use and the solicitation round ended without any final awards. Late last year, Ørsted decided to cease the development of its Ocean Wind One and Two projects due to supplier delays impacting the project schedule. All orders for the approval of these projects were formally vacated earlier this month. This is compounded by the incident at Vineyard Wind on July 13 resulting in island beaches being strewn with fibreglass shards and green and white foam. The incident immediately saw environmentalists call for a federal and state moratorium on all offshore wind development. Music for the ears of Donald Trump who, if he succeeds at winning the presidency, vowed to end offshore wind developments “on day one” via executive order. We need new and bigger components Another thing worth mentioning is the lack of wind turbine installation vessels in the US and the existence of the Jones Act which requires anyone transporting goods from one point in the country to another to use a US ship. According to expert estimates, the US needs at least six of these ships to satisfy its market needs but currently has none. However, the numbers on the ground appear to show that the US offshore wind industry is doing just fine. The country has 4,097MW under construction as of May 31 this year – Vineyard Wind 1 with 806MW, Revolution Wind with 704MW, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind with 2,587MW. This, according to the latest market report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is four times more than last year. The offshore wind energy project development and operational pipeline reached a potential generating capacity of 80,523MW as of May 31. This is an increase of 53% from the same time in 2023. Eight lease areas in the Gulf of Maine added 15,702MW, two lease areas in the mid-Atlantic provided 4,499 MW, two lease areas off Oregon added 3,156MW and four lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico added 6,638 MW. One research lease area in the Gulf of Maine added 144MW floating wind. So far, so good – or not bad at least. Globally, offshore wind projects have faced similar headwinds to the US. However, the numbers revealed by Rystad suggest that, despite these challenges, the sector saw a 7% increase in new capacity additions in 2023 with momentum expected to accelerate this year, with new capacity additions expected to grow by 9% to over 11GW by the end of 2024. Growth is expected to continue at a steady pace with global installations, excluding mainland China, set to exceed 520GW by 2040. Rystad and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) both agree that this expansion will be led by Europe and that floating wind will be a key element for progress. By 2040, the continent is expected to account for more than 70% of global floating wind installations – or around 90GW. Thi