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  • Perspective
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Considerations for the global commercialization of floating offshore wind energy

Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 1, pages 734–749 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Floating offshore wind (FOW) has the potential to unlock access to wind resources in deep water where fixed-bottom turbines are not feasible, enabling coastal regions around the world to meet growing energy demands. Although fixed-bottom offshore wind is commercially mature, FOW, which may be needed for water deeper than 60 m, must progress in multiple ways to reach full commercial viability. In this Perspective, we examine the status of the global FOW industry’s commercial development across three key areas — technical innovation, industrialization and cross-cutting value. Technical innovation has enabled FOW turbines to perform as well as fixed-bottom turbines, with the promise of future cost reductions. However, the complex architecture of FOW turbines, combining floating structures with more than 8,000 electrical and mechanical parts in wind turbines, requires industrialization efforts such as standardization and supply-chain integration to enable commercial project deployment. FOW can potentially offer unique benefits, including reduced environmental impacts and strengthened economic development in coastal regions, through substantial regional economic activity. Successful coordination across these three areas could help to position FOW as a major contributor to a competitive, reliable and resilient global energy system.

Key points

  • Floating wind unlocks new opportunities of wind resource utilization worldwide, where ocean depths are too deep for conventional fixed-bottom offshore technology, thus more than doubling the offshore wind energy potential.

  • Cost reductions are needed to reach industry maturity, with the potential to be cost-competitive with fixed-bottom offshore wind by the mid-2030s.

  • Continued innovation is possible through optimized production processes and risk mitigation, enhanced performance optimization and system reliability.

  • Industrialization will likely transition from single-unit production to rapid serial production, by simplifying the design, standardization and modularization of subcomponents, by expanding the supply chain and by developing the infrastructure.

  • Reaching gigawatt-scale floating wind projects will likely lower costs, but will involve major investments in ports, vessels, grid connections and industrialization. To incentivize these investments, the industry needs stable technology designs that allow for mass production and longer product lifespans.

  • Floating wind can offer cross-cutting societal value, because the wind farms are farther from shore, with fewer community and environmental impacts, as well as higher and more consistent wind resources, better matching of load profiles, increased market values and higher resilience to extreme events.

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Fig. 1: Locations of floating offshore wind.
Fig. 2: Three basic archetypes for floating offshore wind systems derived from the oil and gas industry.
Fig. 3: Enabling infrastructure to commercialize floating wind energy.
Fig. 4: High-capacity ringer cranes are integrated into the S&I ports that are needed for quayside assembly of floating offshore wind turbines.
Fig. 5: Net capacity factor in the summer and winter for a representative offshore wind site in northeastern USA157.

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Acknowledgements

This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the United States Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding was provided by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Wind Energy Technologies Office. Contributions by the Technical University of Denmark were funded by the Department of Wind and Energy Systems.

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  1. National Wind Technology Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA

    Amy Robertson, Walt Musial & Matt Shields

  2. Ocergy, Inc, Oakland, CA, USA

    Alexia Aubault

  3. Floating Offshore Wind Technology Research Association, Tokyo, Japan

    Mototsugu Ikari

  4. Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark

    Lena Kitzing

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All authors researched data for the article and contributed substantially to the discussion of the content. All authors contributed to the writing, and reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Amy Robertson or Matt Shields.

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A.A. is the CTO of Ocergy Inc., a technology company that provides engineering services and floating technology to a wide variety of floating windfarm developers globally, from the early phases of engineering. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Glossary

Blade pitch

The angle of a wind turbine blade relative to the oncoming wind, which can be adjusted to control the rotor speed, power output and structural loads.

Control systems

The hardware and software used to monitor, manage and optimize the performance of wind turbines and the overall wind farm to ensure safe operation, maximize power output and coordinate turbine responses to environmental conditions.

Draft

The vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of a floating wind platform or vessel.

Fixed-bottom offshore wind

Offshore wind turbines that are installed on foundations fixed directly to the seabed, typically in water depths up to 60 m; common types include monopiles, jackets and gravity-based systems.

Monopile

A single, large-diameter cylindrical steel foundation driven into the seabed to support offshore wind turbines.

Operations and maintenance

(O&M). O&M activities are those required to keep wind turbines and associated infrastructure running efficiently and safely, including inspections, repairs, part replacements and performance monitoring (and controls updating).

Original equipment manufacturers

(OEMs). Companies that design and produce the tier 1 components of wind turbines, such as blades, nacelles and towers.

Rotor yaw

The rotation of the entire wind turbine nacelle and rotor around the vertical axis to align the rotor with the wind direction for optimal energy capture.

Spar

A floating wind turbine substructure characterized by a tall, cylindrical design that achieves stability through deep draft and heavy ballast located at the bottom of the structure.

Staging and integration port

(S&I port). Receives, stages and stores offshore wind components and integrates the wind turbine with the floating substructure; additional manufacturing activities, such as floating substructure assembly, can take place at this port.

Tier 1 components

Finished components provided by a manufacturer to an offshore wind project developer, such as blades, nacelles, towers and floating substructures.

Tier 2 components

Subassemblies that have specific functions within a tier 1 component, such as a pitch system for blades.

Tier 3 components

Commonly available subcomponents that are integrated into tier 2 subassemblies, such as motors, bolts and gears.

Transmission congestion

A bottleneck in an electrical grid that occurs when transmission lines do not have sufficient available capacity to transmit enough electricity to meet demand.

Wake

The region of slower, more turbulent airflow that forms behind a wind turbine as it extracts energy from the wind.

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Robertson, A., Musial, W., Shields, M. et al. Considerations for the global commercialization of floating offshore wind energy. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 1, 734–749 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00093-7

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