Review of factors affecting China's offshore wind power industry

China has very rich offshore wind energy resources, and good conditions for its development in eastern coastal areas. Making full use of these resources could effectively alleviate the tense situation in China's power supply, and contribute to energy-saving, emission reduction, and environmental protection targets. Chinese offshore wind power is still in the primary stage, and further development is facing both opportunities and challenges and constrained by weaknesses. The SWOT methodology has been adopted in this study to investigate internal and external factors affecting the Chinese offshore wind power industry. An extensive and critical literature review is also included, including academic papers, statistical data, policy documents, and websites, and 15 factors were identified. Strategies based on the SWOT analysis are proposed to promote the healthy and rapid development of the Chinese offshore wind power. The structural SWOT analysis framework provides insight for both policy makers and industry to gain a better understanding of what influences the sustainable and healthy development of the offshore wind power industry in China, and provide a useful reference for research in related fields. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.