Global installations of offshore wind turbines increased by a massive 21% over the past 12 months, from 61.5GW to 75GW, a report has found.

According to RenewableUK, China and the UK have retained their top positions in offshore turbine building at 36.7GW and 14.7GW operational capacity respectively. Germany is third with 8.3GW, the Netherlands fourth with 3.7GW and Denmark fifth with 2.7GW.

The symbolic threshold of 75GW is roughly equivalent to the energy requirements of the entirety of the UK in 2020 and the new capacity added over the past year generates enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 14 million UK homes.

The global pipeline of projects at all stages of development (operational, under construction, consented, in planning or at an early stage of development) has increased slightly to 1,231GW, up from 1,228GW a year ago, with more than 1,500 projects across 41 countries. This increase is smaller than previous years because of developers refining their portfolios...