North America Floating Offshore Wind Power Market: Market Size & Forecast 2026

The North America floating offshore wind market represents the segment of the broader offshore wind industry focused on deep-water applications beyond the reach of fixed-bottom foundations. Valued at roughly $24.1 million in 2023, the market is on a steep growth trajectory, with industry projections indicating installed capacity could expand from approximately 2.4 megawatts in 2025 to as much as 467 megawatts by 2030. This growth occurs within a global offshore wind sector where cumulative installed capacity reached 83.2 gigawatts and annual additions in 2024 came to 8 gigawatts of new grid-connected capacity, making it the fourth-highest installation year on record.

• •Market valued at USD 24.1 million in 2023, positioned at an early commercial stage
• •Installed base expected to grow from 2.41 MW in 2025 to 467.47 MW by 2030
• •Global offshore wind cumulative capacity stood at 83.2 GW as of 2024, with 8 GW added that year

The primary engine of market expansion is the vast offshore wind resource potential concentrated in deep-water zones along North America's Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, where depths exceed the viability threshold for monopile or jacket fixed-bottom foundations. Government policy support, including state-level offshore wind procurement targets and federal leasing programs administered by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has created a pipeline of designated floating wind energy areas. Technological maturation of semi-submersible, spar-buoy, and tension-leg platform designs has reduced levelized cost of energy projections, while the broader offshore wind industry continues to benefit from declining turbine costs and supply chain localization initiatives.

• •Deep-water coastal zones inaccessible to fixed-bottom foundations unlock substantially larger resource bases
• •Federal and state-level policy targets and offshore lease auctions have formally designated multiple floating wind energy areas
• •Advances in platform engineering and turbine scaling are driving down levelized cost of energy for floating designs

The market can be segmented by platform type, including semi-submersible, spar-buoy, and tension-leg platform configurations, as well as by turbine capacity class, with projects increasingly moving toward utility-scale units of 10 MW and above. Geographically, the United States dominates the North American floating offshore wind landscape due to its extensive Atlantic deep-water zone off the Northeast and the emerging Pacific coast resource base, while Canada's Atlantic provinces and British Columbia represent secondary but growing markets. The Northeast United States, particularly the lease areas offshore Massachusetts, New York, and California, accounts for the largest share of announced project pipelines and early-stage deployments.

• •Platform types: semi-submersible, spar-buoy, and tension-leg designs are the dominant technology routes
• •United States leads with Northeast Atlantic and California deep-water zones; Canada represents a secondary but emerging segment
• •Project scale is shifting toward utility-class turbines as the technology moves from pilot to commercial phases

Who are the notable companies in the industry?

The North America floating offshore wind market remains in an early-stage, project-led phase, with a competitive landscape shaped by offshore engineering firms, specialized renewable developers, and diversified power generation entrants. Market structure is moderately fragmented at the project development tier, where Diamond Offshore Wind, Equinor ASA, Ocean Winds, and Hexicon compete across lease areas as independent developers. On the technology and platform supply side, the field is more concentrated: General Electric and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA deliver turbine and sub-assembly supply chains, while Nexans and General Electric Company provide specialized electrical infrastructure and engineering systems. Integration levels vary considerably, some participants, including Equinor ASA and Ocean Winds, pursue vertically integrated strategies spanning

• •Project development tier is fragmented across multiple independent developers, while the technology/platform supply chain is concentrated among firms with deep-water marine engineering expertise
• •Competitive models range from fully integrated developer-operator structures to specialist platform engineering firms serving as technology providers
• •Capacity and infrastructure concentration is centered in the U.S. Northeast and emerging California coast, with targeted port facility investments supporting the supply chain

What are the recent trends and outlook?

Looking forward, the market is expected to maintain its double-digit growth rate through 2030 as early demonstration projects transition into commercial-scale arrays and supply chains mature. Key trends include the co-location of floating offshore wind with existing maritime infrastructure, the standardization of platform designs to reduce per-unit costs, and the potential for floating platforms to serve as hybrid energy hubs integrating offshore wind with hydrogen production or carbon capture. The broader offshore wind sector is expected to continue expanding globally, with floating technology representing an increasingly large share of new installations as the industry moves into deeper waters. Sustained growth will depend on continued policy support, successful execution of early commercial projects, and resolution of permitting and grid interconnection timelines.

• •Transition from pilot projects to commercial-scale arrays expected to accelerate cost reductions through standardization and learning-by-doing
• •Hybrid offshore energy concepts combining floating wind with hydrogen, carbon storage, or existing maritime infrastructure are gaining traction in project planning
• •Floating offshore wind is projected to capture a growing share of global new offshore wind additions as deeper-water sites are progressively developed