A latest report from IRENA claimed that China and Japan are the two countries which led the chart in offshore wind technology. The report said that China and Japan were the two countries from Asia which reported the highest patents in the renewable energy segment.
The report also shed light on the performance of other countries too in this green energy solution. “Increased invention in offshore wind with dominance in Europa, Asia and USA emerging as future market. In the ranking of the top ten countries in filed International Patent Families (IPFs), seven countries are European, with Germany and Denmark in the lead. The USA is third while China and Japan rank fourth and fifth respectively (the Republic of Korea ranks 11th),” the report said.
It also added that as for non-IPF patents mainly for domestic markets (i.e. not protected internationally),
China leads, which reflects its reliance on a large local market for offshore wind. The report said that most inventions for offshore wind focussed on three areas: floating foundations, transportation equipment, and the installation and erection of turbines.
“It is worth noting that a fourth area is rapidly scaling up in innovation activity, i.e. combining offshore wind and electrolysers, indicating great expectations of a large green-hydrogen economy as a value creation opportunity,” the report said.
The IRENA report said that from 2002 to 2022, about 17 000 patent families related to offshore wind energy were published, reflecting an average annual increase of 18%. Between 2014 and 2017 filings stagnated, but this was followed by a steep increase. It said that Chine led the chart in patent filing in this category.
“The top applicant country is China (52% of the total patent families), followed by the Republic of
Korea (6%), Germany (5%), Japan (5%), USA (4%), and Denmark (4%),” the report said. The report said countries like China, Japan and US are well suited for offshore wind power due to the seabed quality.
“The technical potential that can be realised in waters of depths beyond 50 metres, mainly via the utilisation of floating offshore platforms, represents an opportunity for countries and regions with substantial seabed drops, such as Japan, China, the United States and Europe, to position wind farms significantly farther from the coastline. Yet, the geographical distribution of offshore wind projects remained consistent, led by Europe (including the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Germany) and Asia (represented by China and Japa,” the IRENA report said.
