Wind turbine foundation market ‘to bluster up to $7.2bn by 2022’

GlobalData says this will be driven by renewable energy auctions, supportive policies and decreasing maintenance costs

The global market for wind turbine foundations is forecast to reach $7.2 billion (£5.6bn) by 2022.

Data and analytics firm GlobalData say the market’s value will shoot up from last year’s figure of $5.7 billion (£4.46bn), largely driven by renewable energy auctions, supportive government policies and decreasing maintenance costs.

It expects around $3 billion (£2.35bn) of the market value in 2022 to be made up of onshore foundations, with the annual market for offshore foundations making up the remainder.

During the forecast period, it estimates 98,750 foundation units will be installed onshore, with a further 5,449 being put into place in coastal waters.

Jacket structures to form the base of wind turbines are expected to become more popular.

Subha Krishnan, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Most offshore wind installations globally to date have used monopole foundations, which are cylindrical structures driven into the seafloor and attached to the bottom of the wind turbine tower.

“However, offshore wind turbines are getting larger, complicating the use of monopile foundations. As offshore wind projects move further from shore, jacket structures, which typically consist of four legs connected by braces, are becoming more common as they use a lattice structure to support the weight while using less steel.”

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