Alliance to Cut Costs of Offshore Windfarms

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Eight of the largest energy firms in Europe have formed an alliance to cut the costs associated with building and maintaining offshore windfarms.

The U.K.-based Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has been formed by windfarm owner/operators E.ON AG (PINK: EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany), SSE plc (Perth, Scotland), Electricité de France SA (EDF) (EPA:EDF) (Paris), ScottishPower Renewables (Glasgow, Scotland), Centrica plc (OTC:CPYYY) (Windsor, England), Dong Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), Vattenfall (Stockholm, Sweden) and RWE AG (FWB:RWE) (Essen, Germany).

The group hopes to drive the industry towards reducing the cost of electricity generated by offshore wind to the £100 per megawatt hour (MWh) goal. The group's remit is to investigate the common issues that affect offshore windfarm performance and reliability, and to develop and test potential solutions. It will tackle areas such as blade erosion and cable damage and failure, which have been identified as common problems affecting almost all operational wind turbine generators in U.K. waters.

ORE Catapult also recognizes that the high costs of operating and maintaining offshore wind turbines can be a barrier to companies investing more in offshore projects.

"To improve performance and reduce the costs associated with offshore wind farms, there needs to be greater collaboration amongst industry players to share best practice and learning," explained ORE Catapult's Innovation Programs Director, Chris Hill. "If we are going to capitalize on the economic opportunity presented by a strong offshore supply chain, then we need to develop a collective view on what the key technology challenges are, and where the industry should be focusing its combined efforts on developing innovative solutions to drive cost reductions."

Tony Lyon, Head of Renewables Operations & Maintenance at Centrica, added: "Driving cost reduction in operations and maintenance will be a significant step towards achieving the key industry targets on the cost of energy generated from offshore wind, ensuring that the U.K. remains an attractive investment destination in a rapidly developing global market. This Forum is an important step forward in working towards this."

The U.K. has the most ambitious offshore wind energy plans in the world but the sector has experienced some notable setbacks in the past year.

Earlier this month, Dong Energy and Centrica scrapped plans for one of the largest planned offshore windfarms in Europe. The Irish Sea Celtic Array project, which had the potential to generate up 4,200-megawatts (MW) of electricity, was canned due to economic reasons and 'challenging' engineering issues related to the location. For additional information, see August 7, 2014, article - Irish Sea Windfarm Scrapped.

In March, SSE plc (Perth, Scotland) slashed its interests in a number of large offshore wind projects worth over €24 billion ($32.9 billion) blaming limited government support and concerns over return on investment. For additional information, see March 31, 2014, article - SSE Slashes Offshore Wind Plans.

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