New analysis: 80-95% of contracts for European offshore wind projects are from European suppliers

“This analysis shows that offshore wind is by a large margin a European industry built on European technology, in contrast to other fast-growing low carbon or green industries. Europe needs to ensure that we keep this pole position, and continue to generate jobs and clean power,” says Ivar Slengesol, Chair of the Steering Committee at Norwegian Offshore Wind and VP for Wind and MetOcean at TGS. 

Recharge reported on the analysis.

Slengesol told Recharge: “We wanted to underscore the fact Europe really needs to support its offshore wind industry, because we already have the building blocks for what can be seen as a European super cluster of offshore wind suppliers. It is normal to think of ourselves as Norwegian suppliers, or UK suppliers or German suppliers, but we should also equally think European, and part of the European supply chain.”

The TGS 4C Offshore analysis has examined marked shares for substations, turbines and foundations, based on hundreds of known contracts cross-referenced with projects estimated for the period 2025 to 2035.

Here are the main results: 

Turbines 

92.7% of offshore wind turbines destined for European projects (1,584 out of 1,708 turbines or 23,313 out of 25,133 contracted megawatts) are being manufactured by companies headquartered in Europe. In the global market, around 50% of turbines are being manufactured by European-headquartered companies.

Foundations

Companies headquartered in Europe will manufacture 80.7% (of 1,450 confirmed) wind turbine foundations destined for European projects and 53.2% (of 2,648 confirmed) WTG foundations for global projects. (Including other foundation types, European companies hold 85.5% of contracts on European projects and 54.7% of the global foundation manufacture contracts.)

Export cables 

In European projects, 81.4% of subsea cable manufacturing contracts are held by companies headquartered in the region. This represents 90.9% of contracted capacity by km (8,976 out of 9.875 km). For global projects, 55% of manufacturing contracts are held by European-headquartered companies.

Substation topsides 

Based on known contracts, companies headquartered in Europe will fabricate 81% of the substation topsides for European projects and meet 73% of demand outside the region.

Generally grouping the contracts into categories – Turbines, Foundations, Substations, Surveys, and Export Cables – European companies have market shares between 70% (on substations) and 98% (on surveys) on European projects.

The analysis also highlights market shares for Norwegian suppliers, showing leading positions in particular for maritime segments and for cables and electrical infrastructure.

This data does not represent a total demand or supply forecast. It does not represent all existing contracts, but those confirmed, not expired, and attached to projects included in TGS 4C Offshore’s forecasts to offshore installation start-year 2035. Company location relates to the contracted company rather than parent company.