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HOUSTON, Texas, US, May 17, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
The offshore wind energy industry in the United
States is in its infancy, but it has the potential to become a major
contributor to the electricity market, concludes a report prepared
for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
“Over the past two decades, on-shore wind energy technology has
seen a ten-fold reduction in cost and is now competitive with fossil
and nuclear fuels for electric power generation in many areas of the
U.S.,” explains the paper, ‘Energy from Offshore Wind,’ presented at
the 2006 offshore technology conference in Houston earlier this
month. “While onshore wind energy technology appears to be maturing
rapidly by some measure, the need for further technology development
still remains, as development booms have historically coincided with
the existence of the 1.9¢/kWh production energy tax credit for
renewable energy sources.”
Wind energy installations in the U.S. grew from 1,800 MW in 1990 to
9,200 MW last year, and are expected to grow to 14,000 MW by 2007,
the paper explains. As wind energy penetrates a larger percentage of
the grid, industry growth, dispatchability and infrastructure
barriers will become critical long-term research issues.
More than half of the cost of an offshore windfarm is beyond the
turbine itself, and the overview suggests that the offshore industry
would be the primary beneficiary from this new source of
electricity. If the predictions for offshore energy are realized,
the wind sector could yield revenue of US$100 billion to the
domestic offshore industry over the next three decades in
construction, site assessment, subsea electrical, service and
operation contracts.
The shallow waters of the North Sea have an abundance of sites with
higher wind resources than Europe’s land-based alternatives, and the
first installation on that continent was in Sweden in 1990, with a
single 300 kW turbine. Since that time, the industry has grown
slowly to 18 operating projects with capacity of 804 MW, most of
which is located in Denmark and the U.K. using Danish technology.
More than 11,000 MW of new offshore windfarms are planned before
2010, most in Germany and Britain but at least 600 MW of offshore
wind is in the permitting process in the United States, which
estimated its potential for shallow water wind energy at 98,000 MW.
To date, all installations have been in water depths less than 18 m
and less than 14 km from shore.
“The most critical aspect in the development and expansion of
offshore wind energy lies with the substructures,” and the cost of
offshore foundations will increase as depth of water increases due
to added complexity and resources needed below the waterline.
“Tripods, jackets and truss-type towers will replace monopiles and
gravity bases, initially using conventional oil and gas offshore
practices, but later implementing new strategies that can take
advantage of the lower environmental and safety risks, and higher
production volume associated with offshore wind turbines.
“At some depth, fixed bottom foundations will be replaced by
floating systems that have a high potential for site independence,
mass production and wide-ranging wind turbine innovation” and the
current adaptation of land-based turbine design for use in shallow
water “will provide the first step for the U.S. wind industry to
develop the infrastructure, technical capabilities, and experience
to advance into deeper waters.”
“Offshore wind shows very low impacts to the environment, but
regulatory and environmental barriers have hindered the first
offshore wind projects in the United States,” it concludes. “New
technology is still needed to make wind energy economically
competitive over a broad range of deeper water sites.”
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