Offshore wind: economies of scale the answer

The cost of harvesting offshore wind energy may be a lot lower than the early numbers from controversial projects suggest. A leading U.S. researcher explains how and why deep ocean offshore wind can be the cost-effective renewable energy answer.

The cost of electricity from most emerging offshore projects is, he says, very expensive because they have “large uncertainties and a large learning curve. Those costs do not truly reflect where this industry will be in ten years if we scale up the industry properly.”

The team wants to build floating turbines that can be towed out to sea and anchored, eliminating the costs and risks of construction. By doing as much as possible on land, pre-assemble these units, and doing very little in the water, they plan to save money.

Half of the price is transmission and distribution, the other half is generating electrons. The crucial assumption, is that the industry matures enough by 2020 to the point where it achieves the capacity to build 1,000-megawatt projects. At that size, economies of scale will make it possible to build floating wind farms at costs that will meet the low cost goal.