The case for offshore wind
The Carbon Trust believes mass deployment of offshore wind is critical to bridge the UK’s energy gap and to meet the UK’s targets for security of supply, carbon reduction and renewable energy. To meet the EU’s 15% renewable energy target for the UK, as much as 40% of electricity must come from renewables in 2020. In 2008, the figure was just 5%, so an eight-fold increase is required. Offshore wind is the only technology that can be deployed at sufficient scale to achieve this, and has the potential to supply as much as 25% of the UK’s electricity by 2020. The OWA was set up to drive down costs and accelerate deployment.
The challenge
Since 2003 some 500 offshore wind turbines have been built, 180 of these were installed in 2010. They currently deliver just over 1.5GW, whereas the estimated capacity of development licences awarded by The Crown Estate in Round 3 is 33GW, which is equivalent to 5,500 turbines (assuming an average size of 6MW). The new turbines will be bigger and more complicated to install, standing in up to 60m of water, in some cases more than 200km from shore.
Structures will be taller than 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin) with the turbine rotor diameter being larger than the London Eye. These power plants will be installed in large arrays, far offshore in harsh environments. For example Dogger Bank is 3,343 square miles, which is similar to the size of North Yorkshire and 125 to 290 kilometers (77 to 180 miles) from shore. To meet this challenge, the Carbon Trust is calling on the best minds in the business to apply their knowledge and skills to make offshore wind a viable commercial solution to help meet the targets for renewable energy.
Where are we now?
Since 2003, nearly 500 turbines have been installed close to shore in depths typically less than 20m. They currently deliver just over 1.5GW of electricity.
Round 3
In January 2010, The Crown Estate awarded licences to develop offshore wind in nine Round 3 zones in seas around the UK, from the Moray Firth to the Irish Sea. The Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) is focussed on overcoming the complexities of constructing and running wind farms in these tough marine conditions.
Our Partners
We are co-funding the Offshore Wind Accelerator in collaboration with eight international energy companies. Our Partners in the Offshore Wind Accelerator are:
- DONG Energy, leading Danish offshore wind farm developer with over 20 years’ experience.
- EON, Germany's largest utility
- Mainstream Renewable Power, founded by Dr. Eddie O’Connor and Fintan Whelan, the former CEO and CFO of Airtricity
- RWE Innogy, Europe-wide renewables business of the German RWE group.
- Scottish Power Renewables, UK’s largest onshore wind farm developer.
- SSE Renewables (formerly Airtricity), the renewable energy development division of Scottish and Southern Energy.
- Statkraft, the Norwegian state owned utility
- Statoil, Norwegian international energy company.
The solution
The OWA research and development programme is focusing on four areas:
- Developing new turbine foundations and installation techniques.
- Facilitating access to distant turbines for maintenance.
- Finding the best wind farm array layouts to optimise yield.
- Researching ways to reduce electricity transmission losses.
These research areas were chosen as they represented the greatest potential for reducing the total cost of constructing, operating, and financing large offshore wind farms.
The goals
Offshore wind in the UK has the potential to deliver:
- A 7% reduction in UK carbon emissions versus 1990.
- A quarter of a million UK jobs by 2050.
- Annual revenues of some £19 billion by 2050.
The Offshore Wind Accelerator seeks to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind in the UK by reducing the cost of energy.
Progress so far
Stage 1 of the OWA started in October 2008 with 5 Partners. This stage of the OWA primarily consisted of research and development type activities (through contract research procurement).
At the conclusion of stage 1, the Carbon Trust gave a presentation at the Renewable UK conference in Liverpool which summarised the outputs of the programme so far.
Download the June 2010 presentation (PDF, 1MB).
Stage 2 of the OWA saw the addition of 3 new Partners, with implementation of teh first project beginning in March 2011. This Stage focuses on taking the most promising concepts from Stage 1 and demonstrating their feasibility on test sites. View
further information on the Aid Scheme under which the Carbon Trust provides Grant funding under Stage 2 (PDF, 194kB).
Structure
The OWA is structured around the four research areas described above. Each area is directed by a Technical Working Group (TWG) which comprises of relevant experts from the partner organisations. A Technical Delivery Consultant (TDC), which is an engineering consultancy with expertise in the research area, carries out the projects within the research area.
Innovators and designers are managed by the TDC.
A Steering Committee oversees the strategic direction of all four areas of the work. This structure is represented in the diagram below.
Contact
For more information on the OWA, please contact Jan Matthiesen