It has been globally recognized that the harvesting of renewable energy is of considerable importance for the achievement of sustainable development. As for Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities, the shortage of indigenous fossil sources has inevitably resulted in excessive dependence on external energy sources. Nevertheless, in consideration of the reduction of fossil fuel reserves, as well as the impact on the environment of fossil fuel uses, the exploration of usable renewable energy sources becomes increasingly important for Hong Kong's long-term development. Based on 6-year wind observations from three meteorological stations at three islands in Hong Kong, this study provides a statistical assessment of the wind characteristics and wind energy potential at offshore locations surrounding Hong Kong. The Weibull distribution function was applied to estimate the Weibull parameters which can be used to facilitate the evaluation of offshore wind energy potential. The variation of the mean wind speed, the Weibull parameters and the wind power density were established under various timescales. Significant yearly, seasonal and monthly variations of the Weibull parameters were observed, while the diurnal variation was relatively small. The veracity of the Weibull distribution model to represent offshore wind data was examined, and it was shown that the Weibull model gave an adequate description of the frequencies of actual wind data. Finally, the total wind power capacities at the three potential offshore wind farm locations were derived, which indicated that the Southeastern waters are the most promising locations for offshore wind farm development in Hong Kong. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.