True Cost of Offshore Wind Energy

YouTube text:

In the quest for clean energy, offshore wind stands out – not just for its towering turbines which are already as tall as the Eiffel tower and set to grow further, but offshore wind also stands out for its surprising economics. Despite being about twice as expensive as its onshore counterpart, offshore wind is riding a wave of rapid global expansion. What drives this surge in investment towards seemingly pricier energy? In this video we’ll navigate the depths of offshore wind. We’ll uncover the innovations making these titanic turbines possible, explore why their energy is more prized, and dive into the tumultuous waters of 2023 that nearly capsized the industry. Can offshore wind chart a course towards a more sustainable horizon? Let’s set sail to find out.

Bookmarks:
00:00 Intro
00:54 How do turbines need to be changed to suit offshore environment?
01:24 Different types of support structure for offshore environment
03:39 Size
04:58 Corrosion
05:29 Reliability
06:05 Advantages & Cost Offshore Wind
07:13 Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of Offshore Wind
08:09 Offshore Wind in Denmark
09:27 Non-financial benefits of Offshore Wind
10:39 Value of Offshore Wind – Complementary Generation Profiles
11:21 Matching Generation with Demand
11:43 Offshore Wind in New York
12:08 Offshore Wind in Western Australia
12:51 Offshore Wind Crisis

Note: this is US data, in Europe the picture for the cost of offshore wind is, em, rosier.

[lazard.com] – 2023 Levelized Cost Of Energy+

Tulip-shaped Wind Turbines

[flowerturbines.com] – Specs

5 x 1.15 m high turbines, 16-18 kg each: 1300 kWh/year
1 x 5 m high turbines, 1000 kg: 5000 kWh/year

Mounting on the ground.

The main selling point is energy harvesting during the night and winter, much in contrast to solar panels. Additionally, these turbines work with every wind direction and have a low energy generation threshold. They can be placed next to each other in a cluster. And they deliver more energy per horizontal m2 than PV-solar.

[flower-turbines-store] – Prices

3 x 5 m turbines cost $107k
They come with an annual yield of 3 x 5000 = 15,000 kWh.
At a “new electricity price” of, say, 50 cent/kWh, that is $7,500 or payback time of 14 years.

That’s considerably higher than solar panels, nevertheless, this is new technology with a lot of potential to come down in price. Why should this relatively simple machine in the long term have the cost of a sedan car? It should be possible to produce these devices for $10k or less, reducing the pay-back time to an acceptable 5 years. Should do well on farms, small firms, isolated homes, islands. The real value lies in combining solar panels and these wind turbines, reducing the need for (long term) storage.

[flowerturbines.com] – Company site
[portofrotterdam.com] – Flower turbine delivers more energy/m2 than solar power
[amazon.nl] – 8000W Spiraalvormige windenergie-turbinegenerator

Installing an Onshore Windturbine

[wikipedia.org] – Los Ausines

Vestas EnVentus Platform – V162-6.8 MW Onshore WT

Vestas has introduced a new onshore wind turbine for low-medium wind regimes. The EnVentus platform is modularized, to facilitate easier shipping between manufacturing and installation sites and hence lower cost.

[vestas.com] – EnVentus™ Platform

Vestas Invests in Crane for 200m+ Onshore Installations

Keyword: “Salamander Quick Lift”. One is reminded of the Lagerwey-technology, that also uses the wind tower as part of the crane. Wind tower installation minimalism in action.

[windpowermonthly.com] – Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas invests in Swedish crane technology for 200 metre-plus lifting
[stena.com] – S&L Access Systems with Stena AB as Majority Shareholder Partners up with Vestas
[deepresource] – Lagerwey – Installing a Wind Mill Without External Crane

How To Build A 3 kW Wind Turbine

Rotor diameter 370 cm.
Will yield ca. 500 kWh per month in a 5 m/s wind regime.

[resystech.com] – Wind turbine plans

Turbine producing 2600 Watt

Vestas, Vattenfall Support Modvion Wooden Wind Tower

Timber! The Swedish wooden wind tower specialist Modvion is gaining traction with well-established fellow Scandinavian wind developers Vestas and Vattenfall.

[modvion.com] – Vestas Ventures invests in wood technology company Modvion
[nsenergybusiness.com] – Vestas buys stake in Modvion
[renews.biz] – Vattenfall, Modvion forge timber tower pact
[deepresource] – Our Modvion posts

45 GW Wind/Solar/Hydrogen for Kazakhstan?

Artist impression from the developers site

It sounds a little too Wild West, or Wild East rather, but the company Svevind AB (Swedish? German?) has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Kazakh investment firm about developing a 45 GW wind and solar farm, combined with 30 GW hydrogen capacity in Western and Central Kazakhstan. Cost and commissioning date are vague:

The overall development, engineering, procurement and financing phases are expected to take about three to five years. Construction and commissioning phases are predicted to take approx. five years.

About Svevind:

Svevind is a privately owned group of companies in the renewable energy industry, based in Weißenbrunn (Germany), Piteå (Northern Sweden), Dresden (Germany) and Almaty (Kazakhstan). The Svevind group plans, develops, designs, sells, and operates onshore wind power and solar PV as well as green hydrogen projects. The projects vary in size and scope from single turbines to farms of 1,101* turbines and up to Gigawatt-scale green hydrogen projects. Svevind’s largest project to date is located in Markbygden in the municipality of Piteå. It is expected to become one of the largest wind farms in Europe, and perhaps the world. Total production is expected to be up to 12 TWh.

[svevind.se]

The story could win in plausibility if it could be shown that the project has Chinese financial backing. So far, Svevind has realized 1 GW wind power and 1.5 GW under construction.

Grain of salt.

[svevind.se] – SVEVIND and Kazakh Invest National Company JSC sign a memorandum of understanding
[innovationorigins.com] – Duitse steppestroom uit Kazachstan
[windpowermonthly.com] – Svevind plans 45GW wind- and solar-to-green hydrogen
[crunchbase.com] – Svevind AB

[source] Kazakhstan has excellent wind resources

Lagerwey – Installing a Wind Mill Without External Crane

The Dutch wind developer Lagerwey has been working on this feature since 2016: why go into the trouble of installing a huge crane first, to build a huge wind tower second, if you can use the “growing wind tower” as the crane itself, eliminating the need for an external crane?!

In 2018, the German company Enercon took over Lagerwey and continued to develop the so-called climbing crane, that now has a capacity of 140 tonnes.

For the first time, Lagerwey is attempting to install a complete wind tower, with turbine and rotor blades in Eemshaven in Groningen.

[eemshavenonline.nl] – Klimmende kraan van Lagerwey in Eemshaven
[deepresource] – Lagerwey Self-Climbing Crane on Display in Hamburg
[deepresource] – Lagerwey Completes 150 MW Adygea Wind Project in Russia

Scottish Whitelee Wind Farm to Produce Green Hydrogen

The output of the 2009 Scottish onshore 540 MW wind farm Whitelee is going to be partially used as input for a green hydrogen production plant.

The project – a planning application for which has been submitted by the Spanish utility through its ScottishPower subsidiary with gases giant BOC and electrolysis pioneer ITM Power – would encompass 40MW of PV, a 50MW battery and a 20MW electrolyser, sited near Whitelee, one of Europe’s largest wind power projects.

[rechargenews.com] – Scotland’s giant Whitelee wind farm in frame to power hybrid Iberdrola hydrogen complex
[wikipedia.org] – Whitelee Wind Farm