About OWFA
OWFA members manufacture different types of foundations such as monopiles and jackets, as well as transition pieces linking them to the wind tower. The coalition’s objectives are to:
Establish a level playing field to ensure sustainable manufacturing of offshore wind foundations
Ensure foundation suppliers take the lead in setting standards and defining certification processes
Affirm the industry’s commitment to the principles of ESG by advocating for non-price selection criteria in tenders
Strengthen the European offshore wind foundation industry’s production capacity in order to meet the EU Green Deal targets
Ensure the sector and its supply chain’s resilience and competitiveness in line with the Net-Zero Industry Act.
About offshore wind
Offshore wind is a type of renewable energy that transforms wind power into electricity by using wind farms constructed in the ocean. Due to higher wind speeds, offshore wind farms generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed than their onshore counterparts, with new offshore wind farms achieving capacity factors of around 50%.
Europe currently has 39 GW of total installed offshore wind capacity (21.5 GW in the EU-27). The country with the highest installed offshore capacity in Europe is the United Kingdom, accounting for 44% of all installations (17 GW), followed by Germany at 25% (9.6 GW), the Netherlands at 12% (4.7 GW), Denmark at 7% (2.7 GW), and Belgium at 6% (2.3 GW).
In 2025, Europe connected 2 GW of new offshore wind capacity to the grid, with 0.9 GW located in the EU-27. Looking ahead, WindEurope projects that Europe will install 34 GW of offshore wind between 2026 and 2030 (an average of 6.8 GW per year), bringing total European offshore capacity to 73 GW by 2030 (40 GW in the EU-27). At the North Sea Summit, European governments renewed their long-term offshore ambitions, targeting 300 GW of offshore wind in the region by 2050.
To support this expansion, employment in the European wind sector is projected to grow from 442,800 jobs in 2024 to 607,000 by 2030, with offshore wind accounting for 96,000 direct and indirect jobs as of 2024.
About offshore wind foundations
wind foundations are the support structures for offshore wind turbines. The main foundation types are monopiles together with transition pieces, used when the wind turbine is installed at water depths of 15 to 60 meters, and jackets. Monopiles together with transition pieces are the most widely used foundations. They are connected to the wind tower through a transition piece and made up of a steel cylinder buried up to 30 meters under the seabed. Monopile foundations currently on the market weigh up to 2000 tonnes, with a diameter of up to 10 metres.