Offshore Wind Sells Power at €44/MWh

Subtitle:  Wind Industry Will Fly from here on. 

The lowest price, so far, for offshore wind sales may just be the €44/ MWh that was announced this week.  The project, offshore Dunkirk, France, will be 600 MW and employ wind turbines with 12-13 MW capacity each.  Those are the largest at this point in time.   
see link to article describing the project. 

In US currency, that is approximately 5 cents per kWh delivered.   As stated before on SLB, wind has won. 

Future projects will most likely, almost assuredly, use the largest wind turbines available since the economics are overwhelmingly favorable.  They cost less to install per MW, and have better output via higher capacity factors.  Also, there are fewer of the larger turbines, so maintenance costs are lower.  

This is beyond the turning point the industry has long sought:  sales price of 10 cents per kWh.  

From here on, the investments will be heavy into offshore wind.   The prospects for onshore wind are more limited, since a large hurdle is transporting blades to the installation site.  The very large turbine blades for 12 MW wind turbines simply cannot pass under the various bridges.  Of course, the open ocean has no such restrictions.  

It's a good day for the renewable energy industry.  

Sandia National Lab, 50 MW offshore wind turbine concept
Blades are downwind of tower, blades flex in very high winds
to allow continued operation. 

Update: 6-23-19;  The offshore wind turbines are especially attractive in Europe, where the grid operators typically reduce natural gas-fired power plants as the wind power increases.  That is a savings of very expensive LNG that is vaporized to provide fuel to the power plants.  With LNG selling at $8 to $10 per million Btu, the electric customers should (and perhaps will) see a reduction in electric bills. 

The future is very bright for offshore wind in many areas of the world.  Northern Europe, US East Coast, US West Coast, and the East Coast of Asia are all developing wind projects offshore.   

Floating Spar mooring system, artist's concept
for Hywind, Scotland offshore wind farm
credit: Statoil ASA Environmental Statement

The largest turbines are not yet here, as SLB reported earlier, Sandia National Labs has a design for a 50 MW wind turbine, with flexible blades that bend with the strongest winds.   see link to SLB article, and see link to Sandia publication on the Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor.  (see photo at right)

The economics of such a wind turbine will be very attractive.   However, there are engineering issues to resolve with a large weight balanced at the top of a long and slender tower.   I suspect the answer will be, at least in part, a tower that is designed to sway in the wind, like a palm tree.

Another very good possibility is to employ the floating spar mooring technology as the Hywind project in Scotland uses.   The floating spars also sway in the strongest winds.  See this link for the SLB article on the Hywind floating spar wind farm.   -- end update

Roger E. Sowell, Esq.

Houston, Texas

copyright (c) 2019 by Roger Sowell - all rights reserved

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