Offshore wind companies grow internationally by following the expansion of energy policy, grid infrastructure investment, and available seabed. The most active growth markets right now are in Asia-Pacific, the United States, and parts of the Middle East and North Africa, where governments are setting ambitious renewable energy targets. Expanding into a new market means navigating local regulations, building a qualified workforce from scratch, and managing cross-border employment compliantly. This article walks through the key questions any offshore wind company faces when going global.
What drives offshore wind companies to expand into new markets?
Offshore wind companies expand internationally when domestic markets become saturated, when government policy in another country creates a clear pipeline of projects, or when the economics of a new market are simply too good to ignore. Growth is almost always policy-led: a country sets a renewable energy target, auctions off seabed leases, and the project pipeline follows.
Beyond policy, companies also expand to spread risk across multiple markets. A company operating only in one country is exposed to regulatory changes, election cycles, and grid delays. Spreading activity across the UK, Taiwan, the US, and the Netherlands, for example, means that a slowdown in one region does not halt the entire business.
Technology maturity also plays a role. As floating offshore wind becomes more commercially viable, it opens up deep-water locations that fixed-bottom turbines cannot reach. That unlocks markets like Japan, South Korea, and parts of Southern Europe that were previously inaccessible. Companies with experience in floating foundations have a strong reason to move into those markets early.
Which countries offer the most opportunity for offshore wind growth?
In 2026, the highest-growth offshore wind markets are the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Each offers a different combination of policy support, grid infrastructure, and available seabed.
- United States: The East Coast has a large pipeline of fixed-bottom projects, and the West Coast is moving toward floating wind. Federal lease auctions and state-level mandates continue to drive activity despite some regulatory turbulence.
- Taiwan: One of Asia’s most developed offshore wind markets, with a strong domestic supply chain requirement and a clear multi-gigawatt pipeline through the late 2020s.
- South Korea and Japan: Both countries have set significant offshore wind targets and are actively developing regulatory frameworks to attract international developers and contractors.
- Australia: Offshore wind is still early-stage here, but declared offshore wind zones and state-level targets make it one to watch for the next decade.
- Middle East and North Africa: Countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are diversifying their energy mix, and offshore wind is part of that strategy alongside solar.
Europe remains a core market, particularly the North Sea, Baltic Sea, and increasingly the Mediterranean. But the fastest growth in new capacity is happening outside Europe, which is why international expansion is so high on the agenda for developers, contractors, and service companies alike.
What are the biggest challenges of expanding offshore wind internationally?
The biggest challenges are regulatory complexity, workforce availability, supply chain logistics, and local content requirements. Each market has its own rules about who can work there, what equipment must be sourced locally, and how contracts must be structured.
Local content requirements are particularly demanding in markets like Taiwan and Brazil, where a percentage of the workforce or equipment must come from within the country. This forces companies to invest in local training and hiring well before a project breaks ground.
Permitting and environmental approval timelines vary enormously between countries. A project that takes two years to permit in the Netherlands might take five or more in a market with less developed offshore wind regulation.
Safety and qualification standards also differ. A technician who is fully certified for work in the North Sea may need additional training or certification to work on a project in Asia-Pacific. Screening candidates against both international safety standards and local requirements adds time and complexity to every hire.
Currency, tax, and employment law add another layer. Companies that employ workers across multiple countries need to understand how social contributions, income tax treaties, and visa rules interact. Getting this wrong creates financial and legal exposure.
How do offshore wind companies build a workforce in a new country?
Offshore wind companies build a workforce in a new country through a combination of relocating experienced personnel from existing markets, hiring locally, and partnering with specialist staffing and crewing agencies that already have networks in the target region.
Relocating experienced offshore wind professionals is fast but expensive, and it only works for specialist roles where local talent is not yet available. For most positions, a blend of international and local hiring is more sustainable and often required by local content rules.
Building a local talent pipeline takes time. Companies that enter a new market early have an advantage: they can start training local technicians and supervisors before the first project reaches the installation phase. Those that arrive late often compete for the same small pool of locally qualified workers, driving up day rates and increasing the risk of delays.
We have spent more than 35 years building candidate networks across the offshore energy sector, and we maintain a database of over 100,000 qualified professionals. When a client needs to staff up in a new market, we can draw on that network immediately rather than starting from scratch. Our offices in the Baltics, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Dubai, and the US mean we understand local hiring conditions, qualification requirements, and employment law in the regions where offshore wind is growing fastest. You can explore current offshore wind vacancies to get a sense of the roles we regularly fill.
What is the difference between crewing, secondment, and recruitment in offshore wind?
Crewing, secondment, and recruitment are three distinct ways of placing workers on an offshore wind project, and the right choice depends on the role, the duration, and the employment structure the client needs.
- Crewing covers the operational staffing of vessels and offshore installations. Crew members are typically hired for rotational schedules and are employed under maritime or offshore employment contracts. This model suits roles like marine crew, dynamic positioning officers, and offshore technicians.
- Secondment means placing a professional with a client on a temporary basis while that professional remains employed by iPS or another employer. The client gets the skills and capacity they need without taking on a permanent employment obligation. This works well for project-specific roles where the need is time-limited.
- Recruitment is the process of finding and placing a candidate into a permanent or long-term role directly with the client. The candidate becomes an employee of the client company. This suits senior technical, engineering, or management positions where continuity matters.
Many offshore wind projects use all three models at the same time: permanent staff for core management roles, seconded specialists for project phases, and crewed personnel for vessel operations. Understanding which model applies to each role helps clients control costs and manage employment risk correctly. We cover the full range of industries and workforce solutions across the energy sector if you want to see how these models apply in practice.
How does cross-border payroll work for international offshore wind projects?
Cross-border payroll for offshore wind projects works by employing workers through a payroll provider that is legally established in the relevant countries, handles local tax and social contribution obligations, and issues compliant employment contracts for each jurisdiction involved.
For projects within the EU, this typically involves A1 certificates, which confirm where a worker pays social contributions and prevent double taxation. Without the right documentation, both the client and the worker can face unexpected tax liabilities or fines.
Outside the EU, the requirements vary significantly. A project in the Gulf of Mexico has different employer-of-record obligations than one off the coast of Taiwan or South Africa. The payroll structure needs to reflect local labor law, tax treaties between the worker’s home country and the project country, and any sector-specific rules that apply to offshore work.
For clients, the practical benefit of a managed payroll solution is that it removes the risk entirely. Instead of setting up a local entity in every country where they deploy workers, they use a payroll partner that already has the legal infrastructure in place. Workers get paid correctly and on time, contracts are compliant, and the client avoids the administrative burden of managing international employment directly.
How iPS Powerful People helps with international offshore wind growth
When you are expanding into a new offshore wind market, you need more than a list of CVs. You need a partner who can handle the full workforce picture: finding the right people, getting them to the project compliantly, and keeping the payroll running correctly across borders. That is exactly what we do.
- Full project crewing: We do not just place individual candidates. We can take on the complete workforce planning and crewing for an offshore wind project, from survey through to installation and operations.
- Secondment and permanent recruitment: Whether you need a specialist for six months or a permanent project manager, we match the employment model to the role.
- Cross-border payroll: We employ workers on our own payroll, including A1 certificates for EU projects and full compliance with local employment law wherever the project is located. You carry no employment risk.
- Local market knowledge: With offices in the Baltics, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Dubai, and the US, we know the local talent pools, qualification standards, and regulatory requirements in the markets where offshore wind is growing.
- Quality and safety screening: Every candidate we place is screened against QHSE requirements and international safety standards. In a safety-critical industry, that is not optional.
- B Corp certified: We meet high standards on social and environmental performance, which matters to clients who are building projects that are meant to make the world better.
Ready to staff your next offshore wind project? Learn more about us and find out how we work, or get in touch directly and we will get back to you fast.