ETI CEO Dr David Clarke responds to the Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Pathways study and the Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Task Force Report.
David Clarke , Chief Executive and contributor to the Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Task Force Report :
“The UK is in a fortunate position to have the opportunity to harness offshore wind as a contributor to future energy generation. But we have a responsibility to be both intelligent and prudent in how we exploit this natural resource. We must recognise that today the cost of offshore wind production is an issue that cannot be ignored.
“Today’s reports which confirm the belief that the UK can meet the commitment to a cost of £100/MWh by 2020 provides an endorsement to what remains an industry in its infancy. As such it is an industry which needs to work collectively – sharing knowledge and understanding to make the leap forward it needs to reach this price target – and it also needs to learn lessons from other industries such as oil and gas and aerospace that have travelled a similar path previously. By doing this it has the ability to provide economic benefit to the UK over the coming years through both job and wealth creation.
“Throughout any future development there remains a need to insulate the end consumer from cost pressures. The industry will only do this through innovation and technology advancement to help make this a reality. The new technology developed has to be focused on offshore and the marine environment, simple adaptation from onshore will not get us to that end goal.
“We are seeking to play our part here at ETI by accelerating technology development that can benefit the offshore energy generation industry. We are currently commissioning two projects – both designed to help reduce the cost of production and therefore increase economic viability. Firstly we are developing a floating wind turbine demonstrator in the 5MW to 7MW range to provide a solution for UK and Northern European waters.
“Our aim is to demonstrate the technology works therefore helping to de-risk future deployment areas for the industry. Secondly we are working with industry partners to design and build more efficient, bigger blades to feature in the next generation of turbine design. This is again to help increase energy production at a cost acceptable to producers, suppliers and consumers.”
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, June 13, 2012; Image: Energy Technologies Institute