The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), together with more than fifty of the world’s leading companies and organisations working in floating wind, have today set out an industry action plan aimed at commercialising the emerging technology, unlocking a new renewable energy resource for countries with deep and extensive coastal waters.
GWEC convened the Floating Wind Industry Accelerator (FWIA) in December 2025 to bring together leading developers, manufacturers, suppliers, investors, insurers and technical experts. These representatives last week agreed the FWIA Action Statement for Accelerating Floating Wind following ten months of consultations with stakeholders across the global value chain.
The industry-led initiative aims to reduce barriers to floating wind deployment and foster greater collaboration, delivering an action plan focused on demonstrating value and reducing costs, scaling the supply chain and expanding access to finance and insurance. The aim is to support first-mover projects to secure final investment decisions before 2030, while helping to strengthen the sector to expand into the 2030s and beyond.
'We see immense potential for floating wind to become a viable, scalable and mature technology into the next decade, but no single project, company or nation can commercialise this industry alone. Floating wind’s future success requires governments to work hand-in-hand with industry to seize the opportunities in front of us. If we act collectively and decisively, we can move faster and help to unlock billions of euros in future investment into the sector,' said Michael Hannibal, Chair of GWEC and Partner of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Chief Commercial Officer of Stiesdal, hailed the FWIA Action Statement as an important step forward.
'At a time of rising instability in global energy markets, governments around the world are looking for new sources of renewable power. Floating wind has the potential to occupy an important space in the future energy landscape, giving countries with deep coastal waters a path to generating offshore wind energy. To make this a reality and begin floating wind’s next phase, we need to move it from being just a proven technology to being a commercially successful asset class,' said Rebecca Williams, Deputy CEO of GWEC
To date, numerous countries, including the UK, France, Norway, Spain, Portugal, South Korea and Japan, have established specific floating wind targets as part of their national offshore wind strategies, amounting to around 90 GW of targeted installed capacity by 2045. Meeting these long-term national targets will require continued collaboration between industry and government, helping to drive down costs – with the potential for floating wind to follow in the footsteps of conventional fixed-bottom offshore wind, which has grown rapidly over the past two decades.
Around the world today, some 370 MW of floating wind demonstration projects are currently in operation, while 2 GW of proposed projects hold active offtake contracts. A further 5.5 GW is set to come to market via forthcoming auctions?in France, Ireland, Norway, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
GWEC formed the FWIA in December 2025, bringing together leading companies from the association’s global membership with key stakeholders and financial institutions to identify priority measures that could help speed the development of the sector, overcoming a range of policy, regulatory and market challenges that typically impair most new technology classes.
Over the past ten months, GWEC has conducted extensive consultations with the FWIA’s members to identify three main pillars for future collaboration by government and industry covering: 1) Floating Wind Value and Cost Reduction, 2) Expanding Access to Finance & Insurance and Reducing Cost of Capital, and 3) Scaling the Supply Chain: Infrastructure, Standardisation, and Innovation.
FWIA’s action plan places significant emphasis on the need for governments to convert stated ambition into investable project pipelines, backed by credible auction schedules, appropriate revenue frameworks, and timely port, grid and consenting decisions. These actions are identified as critical enablers for floating wind pipelines and set conditions for industry to deliver floating wind at the lowest cost and maximum benefit to society.
The action plan is delivered alongside recommendations that governments and industry collectively work to build a successful sector by:
- Setting clear floating wind targets and delivering auctions that work: providing the long-term visibility and consistency that attract private sector investment; developing realistic, coordinated plans to improve investor confidence; and having auction criteria that prioritise deliverability and bankability.
- Fostering the right conditions for successful first commercial-scale projects: ensuring revenue mechanisms reflect real costs; working with developers to navigate post-auction changes outside project control; providing binding timelines for permitting and grid connection to help projects stay on schedule; and deploying public finance alongside private capital to reduce risk and financing costs.
- Delivering enabling infrastructure and coordinated supply chain frameworks: leading critical path investments in enabling port and grid infrastructure; setting clear national supply chain goals with industrial policies to support implementation; and addressing supplier concentration by establishing predictable market conditions that justify sustained investment in the sector.
Source: Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)
