Report highlights offshore wind innovation
50 offshore wind innovations have been identified for substantial renewable market impact by 2030 in a new report launched today at the global on and offshore conference WindEnergy Hamburg, Germany.
The joint report ‘Future renewable energy costs: offshore wind’ assesses how technology innovation could reduce the cost of energy from European offshore wind farms, thus making them more competitive in the future.
It highlights more than 50 innovations as having the potential to make a significant reduction of 33% in the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) by 2030 through changes to design, hardware, software or process.
“We know that there is a tremendous potential across the value chain for offshore wind innovations to reduce the cost of energy in the future,” says Emilien Simonot, renewables technology officer at KIC InnoEnergy, which launched the report alongside technical consultancy BVG Associates.
“The findings of this report are extremely positive, and we are looking forward to working with the offshore wind innovations of the future to drive them to commercial success and reduce the LCOE.”
“Innovation is thriving throughout the wind energy industry,” adds Kate Freeman of BVG Associates. “But it’s important when assessing LCOE to take a system-wide view. The modelling work we completed with KIC InnoEnergy used our knowledge and experience to identify the areas of innovation that could have greatest impact on LCOE.”
Two-thirds of the anticipated impact on the LCOE is shown to be achievable through nine areas of innovation, the largest of which is the increase in turbine size from 4MW to 10MW. Fewer turbines would achieve significant savings in the cost of foundations and construction, as well as operational expenditure.
Visit KIC InnoEnergy to read the report in full.
