OCEAN ENERGY
Technology • Regulation • Current Projects
March 2014
Record offshore figures conceal slow-down
in new projects
418 offshore turbines came online in 2013 in Europe, making
a record 1,567 MW of new capacity. This is one-third more
than the capacity installed in 2012. This makes a new total of
6,562 MW of offshore wind power–enough to provide 0.7% of
the EU’s electricity. However a closer look at what happened
reveals a slow-down during the year: two-thirds of the new
capacity came online in the first 6 months. With 11 projects
now under construction, down from 14 this time last year,
market and regulatory stability is critical to bringing forward
the 22,000 MW of consented projects across Europe. “The
unclear political support for offshore wind energy–especially
in key offshore wind markets like the UK and Germany–has
led to delays to planned projects and fewer new projects
being launched. This means installations are likely to plateau
until 2015, followed by a decline as from 2016”, said Justin
Wilkes, deputy CEO at the European Wind Energy
Association (EWEA). “An ambitious decision on a 2030
renewable energy target by the Heads of State in March
would be the right signal to send to the offshore wind sector
that Europe will develop its massive offshore wind potential
for green growth, jobs, industrialization, technological leadership and CO2 reductions”, Wilkes added. In 2013 Siemens
was the leading turbine supplier (69%), DONG Energy the
leading developer (48%), and Bladt the leading substructure
supplier (37%), as they were in 2012.
Ocean News & Technology
26
Chinese build-up in offshore wind gains momentum
As per a new report by Quartz+Co and MEC Intelligence, the
recent developments on policy front, local stakeholder ambitions, and project development indicate a shift towards
growth in China’s offshore wind market. However, the local
industry is still young and European companies should be
ready to take advantage of their experience and the capabilities to explore the opportunity. In the past 5 years, offshore
wind has grown to become the fastest growing Cleantech
technology in Northern Europe. Expectations for growth in
the industry far exceed anything ever experienced before in
the Cleantech sector. The industry, though traditionally concentrated in Northern Europe and around the North Sea, is
now anticipating a major shift in its center of gravity. A
roundup of recent trends and developments in the industry
indicates that China is expected to be a front-runner in terms
of installed capacity of offshore wind. The Chinese government in 2010 set a target of 30 GW installed offshore wind
capacity by 2020. Comparatively, the global offshore wind
installed capacity itself stood at 5,480 MW at the end of 2012;
Europe and China accounted for 90% and 9% of the market
share, respectively. Europe is expected to have an installed
capacity of ~30 GW itself by 2020. The target is widely considered to be ambitious considering that the offshore wind
industry is at a nascent stage, with only a few projects having
been installed so far. And there is a lack of clear plan and
approval mechanism. Activities over the last 1 year, however,
show that the industry is beginning to enter into growth
phase. Offshore wind has recently been given priority status
and it augurs well for the development of the industry. The
government has taken the first step towards rectifying the
problem of low tariffs ranging between Eur 0.08-0.09 kWh in
first concession bidding by trying to discover benchmark
prices through direct approvals. It is expected that competitive benchmark prices will be introduced to upsurge the pace
of development. Furthermore, the government has extended
its learning from onshore wind and has introduced a grid connection approval mandate before construction begins to
avoid curtailment due to lack of grid connection. Most importantly, long standing projects have been granted approval
and 628 MW projects are already under construction, and
about 3.4 GW of projects being consented in Hebei, Jiangsu,
Shanghai, Zhejiang Fujian & Guangdong.
SNMREC turbine tow test
Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center
researchers performed the first ever tow test of a small-scale
research turbine designed and built at FAU. Although this test
did not include a generator to convert the rotor’s motion into
electrical energy, very valuable hydrodynamic motion data
were collected. Electrical systems are separately being prepared in a laboratory setting for future integration and towed
turbine experiments. This turbine, which can generate up to
20 kW with its 3-m diameter rotor in a 2.5-m/s flow, is intended as a research platform to investigate and optimize components for commercial ocean current turbines.
Lockheed Martin,
Victorian Wave Partners
to develop world’s largest
wave energy project
To advance the availability of alternative energy solutions, Lockheed Martin has signed a contract with Victorian
Wave Partners Ltd. to begin developing the world’s largest
wave energy project announced to date. This is a significant
step toward making ocean energy commercially available.
The 62.5-MW peak power wave energy generation project will be built off the coast of Victoria, Australia using the
PowerBuoy® wave energy converter technology of Ocean
Power Technologies (OPT). The project is scheduled to be
built up in three stages, with the first stage producing
approximately 2.5 MW peak power. Once completed, the
project is expected to produce enough energy to meet the
needs of 10,000 homes. As this project also contributes to
Australia’s goal of 20% renewable energy by 2020, it has
received significant grant support from ARENA (Australian
Renewable Energy Agency).
Wave power devices extract energy from the surface
motion of ocean waves. Unlike wind and solar sources, energy from ocean waves is very predictable and can generate
electricity for more hours in the year than wind and solar. In
addition, wave power devices are typically quieter and much
less visually obtrusive as compared to wind turbines, which
typically run more than 130 ft in height. In contrast, a
PowerBuoy is only 30 ft in height above the waterline and is
barely visible, as it is typically 3 mi offshore.
In this project, Lockheed Martin will provide overall project management, assist with the design for manufacturing of
the PowerBuoy technology, lead the production of selected
PowerBuoy components, and perform system integration of
the wave energy converters.
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