More emphasis should be put on floating foundations to access best offshore wind resources - ETI
Energy Technologies Institute
The Energy Technologies Institute has published recommendations for the UK to access the best Offshore Wind resources.
In order to access the best offshore wind resources in the UK, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has recommended more emphasis now be put on floating foundations as opposed to fixed foundation solutions.
The recommendation comes after data revealed it would bring costs down, research into offshore wind in the UK including a FEED (front end engineering design) study into its floating platform demonstration project showed.
The ETI recommended that more work should be carried out to develop floating offshore wind platforms alongside producing bigger more durable blades that can be assembled close to site to reduce operational costs, following their ten years of research.
It also urged that there should be greater consistency of consenting and approvals as the deployment levels of offshore wind farms can be restricted by multiple stakeholders, constraining the building of bigger farms.
In waters less than 30 metres deep, ETI analysis pointed to fixed foundations offering the prime solution from a cost-effective perspective but when you go more than 50 metres deep, floating foundations would provide the lowest cost solutions.
Larger turbine blades also make a difference to the cost of energy but how they are constructed matters as much as the physical length in reducing capital costs per MW and enabling greater energy yield. Without manufacturing and material improvements a longer blade will be heavier and this can negate other performance benefits.
ETI argued if manufacturing solutions can be found to allow for modular assembly close to deployment locations this can also make a material difference to the operational cost of offshore wind.
This was evidenced in its partnership with Blade Dynamics, a UK SME subsequently purchased by GE, who worked on an ETI project to develop larger blade technology through new design and manufacturing concepts – by producing blades as a series of sub-sections to deliver improvements in quality, cost, transportability and performance.
Current developers of larger wind farms can also be constrained by the wishes and needs of multiple stakeholders which has in the recent past restricted the deployment levels of offshore wind. The ETI believes that by taking another approach and potentially absorbing consenting costs this could become a game-changer for the UK market by making offshore wind more attractive to investors.
In Holland, for example, consenting costs are absorbed by the Government (in July 2016 DONG Energy won a tender for new Dutch wind farms at €72 – approximately £62 per MWh) and the ETI says if the UK was to follow this model then it has a ready-made solution for a consenting managing agent in The Crown Estate.
Commenting on their 10 years of offshore wind work, Andrew Scott, ETI Offshore Renewables Programme Manager, said: “Our work has consistently shown that offshore wind can have a significant role in the UK’s energy mix. To date costs have come down significantly (approximately 50% over the last 10 years) but we believe they can come down further through the employment of new policy and technology levers.
“Offshore Wind is not simply competing with other renewable sources but with other technologies generating low carbon electricity. From our work we see that there is a clear and credible trajectory to delivering subsidy free UK commercial offshore wind farms as part of the UK 2050 energy mix
“When we started work in this area we modelled the role of offshore wind in a least-cost 2050 UK energy system to meet the country’s climate change targets. Then it was seen as a hedging option to fill the gap if other technologies did not progress.
“But during the last decade we have seen its role change. It is now a core component of a least cost balanced 2050 energy system that delivers a low carbon transition alongside new nuclear, carbon capture and storage, bioenergy, gas and offshore renewables (predominantly wind) alongside efficiencies in the heating of buildings and transport fleets, both heavy duty and light vehicles.
“If industry can find routes to more repeatable manufacture of bigger turbine blades – such as in “kit form” close to site – it could lead to even further cost reductions as well as opening up export market opportunities. But there is also a continued need for the sector to learn by doing. The industry needs to increase its practical experience through even further deployment, development and demonstration of new technologies and learn from this to contain operational costs.”
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