Innovation and technology

Offshore wind is a young industry that has been driven by innovation and technology development within wind turbines, grid connections, infrastructure, installation, lifting, jack-up vessels and other support services. But with weather downtime and other inefficiencies, there is still considerable work to do. Continued research and development into specialist equipment will lead to greater efficiencies and less risk in the industry as well as lower costs, earlier power generation and greater return on investment.

The articles below contain opinions, recommendations, learnings and experiences from technology experts in the offshore wind industry. They explore issues related to turning innovation and technology into a commercial advantage.

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The great offshore wind paradox

The offshore wind industry faces a well-known paradox. It needs wind to generate electricity, but too much wind makes it difficult to create the necessary infrastructure. Quite simply, lifting major components in high winds is one of the biggest issues facing offshore wind turbine installation. Over the years, thousands of days of installation time have been lost, leading to cost increases in the billions of Euros and huge project delays.

Various remedies have been attempted, but the nut still has not been cracked. In fact, I am rather surprised at the half-hearted efforts to address the paradox. Why? Because the impact of weather downtime has far-reaching ramifications in and beyond the industry. Continue reading →

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How can contractors contribute to a sustainable offshore wind industry?

Offshore wind now accounts for about 7% of European renewable energy generation. Most of this new capacity has been built since 2015. Although the rate of growth has been slower than many expected or hoped, it is still a significant shift in the way Europe generates electricity. The change has been biggest in the UK, where offshore wind now generates about 5% of all its UK electricity demand.

But it hasn’t been cheap. In 2012, new offshore wind farms at final investment decision (FID) had a levelised cost of energy of about €150/MWh. At the time, the ambition was to get to about €110 for projects reaching FID in 2020. Led by the rapid introduction of next generation of offshore wind turbines, recent analysis by BVGA suggests that the 2020 target is well within reach. Continue reading →

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What’s next in offshore wind installation technology?

As offshore wind turbine sizes grow rapidly, the technology needed to install and commission turbines is not following suit. This is a significant barrier to progress in the offshore wind industry and is continuing to make it difficult to reduce the levelised cost of energy.

Today’s wind turbines and the associated installation technology, such as taglines, have been created from the same baseline. But it is all essential just an incremental evolution of technologies that have been moved from onshore to offshore. There have been no significant design revolutions.

At the same time, we are using the same technology developed for smaller turbines and assuming it will deal with 8MW turbines – and bigger. We are increasingly demanding more from the equipment, but in reality the technology has its limits. Continue reading →