Floating Wind Energy Market

Version	Summary	Created by	Modification	Content Size	Created at	Operation
1		Carlos Guedes Soares	--	2233	2022-07-22 17:39:07	\|
2	format	Jason Zhu	Meta information modification	2233	2022-07-25 04:43:09	\|

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/jmse10070934

The floating technology enables the extraction of wind resources from previously expensive or complex areas to fixed-bottom turbine installation. These floating concepts have revived many countries’ interests in offshore wind energy. Europe has set ambitious renewable energy goals to reduce its environmental impact. The vast untapped offshore wind resources will play an important role in fulfilling the energy demands to achieve the renewable energy targets of the European Union (EU). Floating wind energy heavily depends on political support, especially in the beginning. The support of the national governments is highly unclear under some financial uncertainty. However, the European Union is actively engaged in realizing offshore wind projects through initiatives such as the Interreg and H2020 funds. Furthermore, the EU has a vast economy to support such projects and is attractive to developers because of its high national electricity prices.

barriers floating wind market needs marine renewables wind farm logistics offshore technology

1. Introduction

One of the crucial aspects of floating wind energy development is the associated technology. The floating wind energy market comprises many stakeholders and investors, such as floating technology developers, utility companies, equipment manufacturers, contractors, and energy producers.

The construction of floating farms requires several industrial segments and companies in each sector. Noteworthy are the companies that produce floating platforms, offshore wind turbines, wind towers, cables, mooring systems, and installation companies.

Over the past years, the competitiveness of the technological market for floating wind components has increased ^[1]. Consequently, the increased competition has reduced manufacturers’ profit margins and sale values. The floating wind market expansion increases the technology sales.

As indicated in previous sections, the share of the Atlantic Region is almost 80% of the wind offshore areas. The water depths in the Atlantic region are ideal for floating wind and studies estimate that 85 GW could be deployed in the next decades. In line with the previous prognosis, some recent studies based on sustainable use of the maritime space considered that the Atlantic coast of Portugal, Spain, and France could host 32 GW of floating wind ^[2].

In the scope of the Arcwind project, more than 80 floating wind farm locations were determined and characterized. Of all of them, 6 locations were characterized to host floating platforms due to their suitability to host the Esteyco (Spar), Saitec (Semisubmersible), and Centec (TLP).

2. Research and Development Trends and the Future of the Floating Wind Industry

The floating wind platforms are designed for extreme sea conditions, allowing installation and maintenance time reduction. Establishing coastal facilities could solve the logistical constraints of the sector. The floating turbine construction and maintenance may be realized on land and transported to the farm. New designs, larger rotors, advanced materials, and taller towers suggest a new field for innovation. The new technological improvements focus on six areas: component weight and costs, transport and assembly, monitoring and control, turbine reliability, grid integration, and optimizing performance. The most ambitious research and development (R&D) plan is trying to develop a rotor blade longer than 200 m for a 50 MW offshore wind turbine, 2.5 times longer and 6 times more potent than turbines currently in operation ^[3]^[4]. The integration of floating concepts with other energy technologies (wave energy converters or solar panels) is currently in the R&D process.

3. The Port Activities in the Floating Wind Industry

Seaport services include handling goods at port terminals, towing services, piloting services, and industrial services. Moreover, the port can offer manufacturers test facilities, training centers, rental warehouses, offices, and operation centers ^[5].

The ports are currently adapting their business to support floating wind and other marine renewable energies. These entities adapt their infrastructure to stock the components, assemble the units, and stock the foundations providing cost reduction and efficiency ^[6].

Several studies analyzed the types of ports and the associated production process ^[7]. The type of port used to establish floating wind activities will depend on the installation strategy, costs, the distance from the manufacturing centers, and the distance to the wind farm ^[8].

The seaport can play a crucial role in the offshore wind production process. Managing all stages at the local and temporal levels is essential for the activity’s profitability. The primary function associated with the port is the transportation of various equipment from land to the sea. However, some ports could assume the role of manufacturing and assembly, which raises this activity’s potential in these entities.

4. The Environmental Considerations

A stable wind resource is essential for offshore wind projects. Wind variability is a significant factor. A steadier wind can provide a more constant energy output. These conditions are present on the European Atlantic coast.

Suitable offshore sites near populated centers mean new opportunities. The offshore farms near the final consumer reduce transmission costs and energy losses. At the same time, the farm’s visibility from the shore needs to be considered. Moreover, the weather patterns are essential to avoid possible coastal natural disasters. The frequency of these events can significantly impact the project cost and electricity cost—these aspects need to be considered when searching for suitable locations. One of the primary purposes of the Arcwind project was to identify appropriate areas from a sustainable point of view. The Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) phenomenon is at a maximum in the site selection of floating wind farms.

5. Social Aspects

The social aspects of floating energy projects can be the deciding factor in the success of a project. A negative public attitude towards floating wind farms can delay or cancel a project. Some projects in the EU illustrate the importance of public acceptance. The NIMBY opposition against wind turbine farms is related to the turbines’ aesthetics and any possible pollution ^[9]. Factors such as the culture, economy, political stance, location, and coast use determine the public attitude ^[10]. The opposition against wind farms comes from people linked to the ocean/coast jobs. Local community members fear the project will damage the environment, disrupt commercial activity, and lower property prices. An excellent opportunity to achieve a floating project implementation is guaranteeing the involvement of the local public and social entities in the process of wind farm acceptance.

6. Legal Aspects

Legal aspects are one of the biggest concerns when it comes to the development of the floating wind industry. Europe has had around 5 years of commercial experience in floating wind projects. So far, several commercial leases at the Atlantic Coast have been submitted by energy suppliers to the corresponding organizations (national and regional). Moreover, stakeholders can pressure the project by filing lawsuits. The outcome of these lawsuits is often uncertain and can heavily delay projects and run up costs. Another main concern during the permitting is the public resistance because of visual impact. The visual effect of an offshore installation is taken into account during the permitting process.

The permitting process for an offshore wind farm in European waters is complicated due to the duplicity of documents at the national and regional levels.

Furthermore, the rules are not specific to the floating sector, which means that laws that are not specific need to be fulfilled. This type of project requires a clear regulatory framework between the regulatory bodies to facilitate the fast implementation for the energy developers.

7. Technological Aspects

The technological environment is crucial to benefit from the opportunities of the floating wind market. Several obstacles related to floating turbine technology can emerge.

Some technical challenges are inherent to renewable energy solutions. The existing energy infrastructure decides how easily energy from offshore turbines can be integrated into the grid, and the lack of infrastructure dramatically increases the cost. The supply chain and the manufacturing environment on the European coast are other technical factors to consider.

8. Floating Offshore Wind Barriers for Commercialization

Most barriers are to be solved by the policymakers who need to realize the huge opportunities that the FOWT represent, in terms of job creation, environmental commitments, and Europe’s future. All available reports concur in the following barriers for FOWT:

1.

Maritime Spatial Planning: There is a need to increase the rate of site allocation and development for achieving, at least in Europe, the environmental commitments of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is in hands of the policymakers that need to move quickly to put in motion the long process required for a wind farm development.

2.

Environmental Impact: Although the comparison with the oil and gas business is clear, it is required to ensure that focusing the energy transition on the offshore wind industry is the right decision.

3.

Multiple Use: The future of offshore wind goes towards the sharing of the sea between users.

4.

Expand the grid offshore and onshore: The electricity grid infrastructure in Europe needs to be able to absorb the power foreseen to be installed. This will require, most likely, the collaboration between countries, which requires a legal framework that still needs to be constructed.

5.

Stable Rates: The policymakers need to stabilize the energy rates for allowing the project to capture investments. This will increase the supply chain that will feel more comfortable investing in the necessary upgrading of vessels, ports, and onshore facilities that could be amortized in longer periods.

6.

Mobilizing investments: WindEurope, in the frame of Europe’s objective for 2050, estimates that CAPEX needs to be threefold for offshore wind farms and transmission grids. Their estimate requires to go from EUR 6 bn per year in 2020, to more than EUR 21 bn per year in 2025. In 2030, the investments will need to be around EUR 45 bn. In total, this means spending around 10% of the total infrastructure budget across Europe, on offshore wind.

7.

Technology Readiness: The TRL achieved by different concepts such as Equinor’s spar, Ideol’s barge, or PPI’s semisubmersible, encourage the experts to believe that this will not be a drawback for the FOW future. However, for other concepts, there is still a long way to walk, but the de-risking process shall be faster every day.

8.

Industrialization: The designers need to intensify their efforts for thinking about the ways to allow an industrial process that allows the cost competitiveness of offshore wind energy. The step from demonstrator or pre-series to full commercialization needs to be taken. Thinking about these fabrication, transport, and installation procedures will allow the governments to know how to upgrade the harbor facilities.

9.

Scalability: The turbine sizes are in continuous growth, and it is usually overtaking the foundation designs. The recent GE 12 MW turbine is a tremendous challenge for the foundation designers. In light of the speed in which these new turbines have reached the market, it is expected that the exigencies of the floaters will be very demanding in the future.

10.

High Levelized Cost of Energy: In recent years, significant cost reductions in the onshore and bottom fixed offshore wind sectors were witnessed. FOW is anticipated to follow a similar downward trend with a cost decrease of 38–50% leading to 2050, following the suggestions of IEA experts. There are several other factors which may also lead to further cost reductions.

(a): One of the main advantages of FOW is the positioning in areas with higher average wind speeds, allowing to harness the best possible wind resources without depth constraints. The capacity factor can thus be improved and lead to increased electricity generation. With higher capacity factors, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) will be reduced.
(b): Technology that allows a cost-effective exchange of large turbine components offshore when floating foundation structures are moving due to wave motion. The maintenance of turbines in FOWT is a non-solved issue, the players in the industry are demanding cost-effective solutions for the large correctives of the turbines in the FOW.

For spars, whose final configuration is too deep to be taken into the harbor, this would imply such prohibitive costs that it simply cannot be considered a valid option for future large commercial floating farms. Proof of this is the contest of ideas to solve this problem proposed in 2017 by Equinor. This initiative has, however, failed to provide any concept promising and ready enough to be field-tested and demonstrated, and as of today Equinor openly admits that LCM interventions for their SPAR floating wind turbines are an issue yet to be solved.

With semisubmersibles, whose draught is much smaller, the full de-installation and reinstallation of complete units might be considered a viable alternative for a commercial wind farm. They would be towed to the harbor to use onshore cranes for Large Corrective Operations. Even so, the cost of the mooring and mooring large structures, disconnecting and reconnecting the dynamic riser power cables, decommissioning and recommissioning the turbine and electrical systems are very high, and required the mobilization of multiple specialized vessels and need very long operative weather windows leading to prolonged unproductive periods.
(c): In the same framework as the previous, the industry is looking for cost-effective solutions for maintaining floating offshore foundations due to the capability of towing the structure to the port.
(d): Cost-effective manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of the large volume of mooring lines and anchors in floating wind farms. Mooring systems and their installations are important cost contributors, particularly given the large volume of mooring lines and anchors that must be installed.
(e): Cost-effective monitoring and inspection of a large number of mooring lines, cables, and foundation structures. Current solutions are based on Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) or divers, feasible solutions inherited from the oil and gas industry due to the small number of lines.

Despite all the challenges mentioned above, the good performance of the FOWT must be remembered. FOW could cement Europe’s leadership in renewables globally ^[11].

References

Watson, S.; Moro, A.; Reis, V.; Baniotopoulos, C.; Barth, S.; Bartoli, G.; Bauer, F.; Boelman, E.; Bosse, D.; Cherubini, A.; et al. Future emerging technologies in the wind power sector: A European perspective. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2019, 113, 109270.
Díaz, H.; Guedes Soares, C. An integrated GIS approach for site selection of floating offshore wind farms in the Atlantic continental European coastline. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2020, 134, 110328.
Yao, S.; Chetan, M.; Griffith, D.T.; Escalera Mendoza, A.S.; Selig, M.S.; Martin, D.; Kianbakht, S.; Johnson, K.; Loth, E. Aero-structural design and optimization of 50 MW wind turbine with over 250-m blades. Wind Eng. 2021, 46, 273–295.
Schütt, M.; Anstock, F.; Schorbach, V. Progressive structural scaling of a 20 MW two-bladed offshore wind turbine rotor blade examined by finite element analyses. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 2020, 1618, 052017.
Host, A.; Skender, H.P.; Mirković, P.A. The perspectives of port integration into the global supply Chains—The case of North Adriatic ports. Pomorstvo 2018, 32, 42–49.
Junqueira, H.; Robaina, M.; Garrido, S.; Godina, R.; Matias, J.C.O. Viability of creating an offshore wind energy cluster: A case study. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 308.
Cooper, B.D.; Marrone, J.F. Port requirements to support offshore wind development in North America. In Ports 2013 Success Through Diversification, Proceedings of the 13th Triennial International Conference, Seattle, WA, USA, 25–28 August 2013; ASCE: Reston, VA, USA, 2013; pp. 1473–1482.
Díaz, H.; Guedes Soares, C. A Multi-Criteria Approach to Evaluate Floating Offshore Wind Farms Siting in the Canary Islands (Spain). Energies 2021, 14, 865.
Firestone, J.; Kempton, W.; Lilley, M.B.; Samoteskul, K. Public acceptance of offshore wind power: Does perceived fairness of process matter? J. Environ. Plan. Manag. 2012, 55, 1387–1402.
Nordman, E.; VanderMolen, J.; Gajewski, B.; Isely, P.; Fan, Y.; Koches, J.; Damm, S.; Ferguson, A.; Schoolmaster, C. An integrated assessment for wind energy in Lake Michigan coastal counties. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 2015, 11, 287–297.
Wind Europe. Floating Offshore Wind Vision Statement; Wind Europe: Brussels, Belgium, 2017.

© Text is available under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Upload a video for this entry

Information

Subjects: Engineering, Ocean

Contributors MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register :

Hugo Díaz

José Serna

Javier Nieto

C. Guedes Soares

View Times: 442

Entry Collection: Environmental Sciences

Update Date: 25 Jul 2022

Table of Contents

Video Upload Options

Confirm