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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Off-Shore Wind Turbines Mimic Palm Trees

Subtitle: Sandia Lab Designs Very Large Turbine Blades 

A most interesting development was announced this week, for very large wind turbines for offshore application, where the turbine blades flex and fold under high wind speeds to prevent damage.  

Flexible Blades in Normal Operation,
Wind from the Left  (credit: Sandia)

The blades will allow wind turbines to produce 50 MW each, a far greater amount than the 8 MW that is achievable today (to the best of my knowledge).   With wind turbines, economy of scale applies (unlike in nuclear technology), so that bigger and bigger turbines have lower and lower unit-costs and power production costs.   

see link  to "Enormous Blades for Offshore Energy," by Sandia National Laboratory. 


The photo at right shows the blades in the normal operating condition, fully extended and notable for the wind coming from the left, or the nacelle direction.  The blades flex as required in the wind, and move away from the support tower.   

The large blades capture more energy from the wind, but must be supported on taller towers.  However, the wind is faster and more stable at higher elevations, both excellent things in the wind-turbine business. 

Flexible Blades in High-Wind Condition,
Wind from the Left  (credit: Sandia)

When the wind exceeds a certain threshold, the turbine blades begin to flex.  The flexing decreases the apparent diameter of the blades, and decreases the power output.  However, at very high speeds, the blades collapse as shown in the next photo.  The collapsed position prevents damage to the blades and generating machinery.  

From the Sandia article:

"The segmented rotor's load alignment is inspired by the way palm trees move in storms. The lightweight, segmented trunk approximates a series of cylindrical shells that bend in the wind while retaining segment stiffness. This alignment radically reduces the mass required for blade stiffening by reducing the forces on the blades using the palm-tree-inspired load-alignment approach.

Segmented turbine blades have a significant advantage in parts of the world at risk for severe storms such as hurricanes, where offshore turbines must withstand tremendous wind speeds of more than 200 mph. The blades align themselves to reduce cantilever forces through a trunnion hinge near the hub that responds to changes in wind speed.


“At dangerous wind speeds, the blades are stowed and aligned with the wind direction, reducing the risk of damage. At lower wind speeds, the blades spread out more to maximize energy production,”"

Advances in tower technology are also being made, to reduce costs and achieve longer life in the offshore environment.  

For background, the US offshore locations have tremendous wind energy that is untapped, and has been untapped for millenia.  Per the U.S. Department of Interior, Mineral Mining Service, MMS, in their January 2009 "Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2010 – 2015," there is plenty of power in the wind offshore.   

 The MMS stated:
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that more than 900,000 megawatts (900 GW), close to the total current installed U.S. electrical capacity, of potential wind energy exists off the coasts of the United States, often near major population centers, where energy costs are high and land-based wind development opportunities are limited. Slightly more than half of the country’s identified offshore wind potential is located off the New England and Mid-Atlantic Coasts, where water depths generally deepen gradually with distance from the shore. Development of offshore wind energy technologies has the potential to provide up to 70,000 MW of domestic generating capacity to the nation’s electric grid by 2025."

Furthermore, as stated many times on SLB, the variable output of wind turbines is no longer an issue, with the underwater storage and on-demand production of electricity as proposed by MIT.   In short, there is absolutely zero need to consider dangerous, costly, and deadly nuclear power.   The entirely renewable, clean, and inexhaustible wind has more than enough energy to supply the future needs.   As Dylan once sang, "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind."   

Indeed. 


Roger E. Sowell, Esq.
Marina del Rey, California

copyright (c) 2016 by Roger Sowell, all rights reserved