New target for Danish Offshore Wind
OFFSHORE: The Danish public-private partnership, Megavind, has set a new target for offshore wind - to drive down cost of energy from offshore wind farms, and to half the cost of energy from new installations on comparable sites before 2020.
This will make offshore wind competitive with newly built coal-fired power, and in the process most likely achieve cost-competitiveness with all other new-built electricity generation, except for onshore wind.
This ambitious target may be met through concerted effort from industry, research and governments.
Three main achievements must be realised by industry and research between 2010 and 2020. Firstly, newly built offshore wind farms must be able to produce roughly 25% more electricity per installed MW. Secondly, the capital expenditure including costs per installed MW must be reduced by approximately 40%. And thirdly, the cost of operation and maintenance per installed MW must be reduced to about half.
Cost efficiency gains at this scale are considered necessary to maintain public and political support for large-scale implementation of offshore wind in Europe and globally, and to maintain the competitive edge of Danish actors in this market.
Three important preconditions must be met by governments to reap the full benefits of the technology gains proposed. Policy makers and planners have a very direct impact on the future CoE and competitiveness of offshore wind.
Firstly, economies of scale and industrialisation are the main drivers and technology development the enabling factor in reducing CoE. The reduction target presumes a high degree of political certainty for gradually increasing the annual new build rate over the period towards 2020 to allow the industry to make planned investments in industrialisation.
Secondly, governments must deliberately improve their planning systems and enable use of more cost-efficient sites. The European pipeline for offshore wind towards 2020 is for political reasons planned further from shore, and at greater water depths, compared to the average operating wind farm installed prior to 2010. The described technology driven cost efficiency gains could well be offset by higher cost related to the site selection.
Thirdly, governments must put in place the necessary core funding for RD&D as described in this strategy.
The vision and target achievements are considered necessary and feasible by the key sector organisations.
Source: Megavind / maritimedanmark.dk
