Whenever one reads about offshore wind, it always appears to be in the region of northern Europe. You hear of Scotland, sometimes UK, Denmark perhaps...but for all the limelight that offshore wind has succeeded in garnering in the past few years, its applicability and use appear to be only in a few regions. Unless offshore wind can be successful in larger countries such as China, USA and India, it is unlikely to have reached an inflection point?

Offshore wind is costlier that onshore wind. Here are some data:

"Offshore wind systems are costlier than their onshore counterparts, both in capital and operating costs. A summary of indicative cost data provided below is insightful.

Onshore

Investment of about $1.5 million per MW

Levelized cost of 6-7 cents per kWh

O&M � 1-3% of capital costs

May be built in smaller units

Offshore

Investment of $2.3 million per MW

Levelized cost of about 10-11 cents per kWh

Higher O&M � 40$ per kW and 0.7 cents per kWh variable

Large turbines and farms required"

Offshore wind is over 50% more costly in capex (actually I have seen figures much higher than 50%) and overall, the cost of electricity from offshore wind is almost twice that of onshore wind.

Given that the costs are higher and its prevalence is currently is only in a few select regions in the world, when do you think offshore wind will reach a point from where it can take off at much higher adoption rates?

Here is a link that might be useful: Offshore Wind