Europe invested €26.3 billion (£23bn) on new offshore wind farms last year.

A new report by the association WindEurope, estimates this investment will finance 7.1GW of new offshore wind capacity.

An estimated 2.9GW of new offshore wind was built last year in Europe, which now holds 25GW of offshore wind capacity. There are 116 offshore wind farms across 12 countries, with 40% of the capacity being in the UK.

The EU aims to have 300GW of generation by 2050.

Nine new offshore wind farms came online across five countries in 2020 – the Netherlands connected 1,4GW and recently completed the development of the Borssele Wind Farm Zone.

The analysis also shows Belgium connected 706MW, the UK 483MW and Germany 219MW.

The report also predicts almost 200,000 people will be working in European offshore wind by 2030.

Giles Dickson, WindEurope Chief Executive Officer, said: “Investors see that offshore wind is cheap, reliable, and resilient and that governments want more of it.

“And these investments will create jobs and growth. Every new offshore wind turbine generates €15 million (£13.1m) of economic activity.”