Offshore wind to power all 30 UK million homes in 2030

The UK government pledged $207 million to upgrade ports and infrastructure as it eyes to generate one gigawatt of energy from floating offshore wind power by 2030, enough to power every home.

That amount is more than 15 times as much power as floating offshore wind currently generates worldwide.

According to Jess Ralston, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, the UK's target to generate 40 Gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind by 2030 is likely necessary, as government advisers say that 75 Gigawatts may be needed from offshore wind to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Gas currently heats a vast majority of UK's nearly 30 million homes, hospitals, and schools.

While offshore wind farms are twice more costly to set up than onshore, they produce a lot more energy because bigger wind turbines can be installed, said Tom Edwards, a senior modeler at Cornwall Insight, a UK energy consultancy.

Edwards expects that costs will decline further over time as development increases.

Global investment into offshore wind reached $35 billion in the first half of this year, three times higher than the same period last year.

Investments were made on 28 sea-based wind farms, including off the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, and Taiwan.

There is also a rush to build offshore wind farms in China.

Last month, BP, one of the world's biggest oil companies, unveiled a $1.1 billion offshore wind investment into two US projects that have the potential to power more than 2 million American homes.