Europe will have an installed offshore wind capacity of 40GW by 2020, a new study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants predicts.
In the same year, global investment to ramp up offshore wind power will have reached about €130bn ($170.7bn), reckon the authors of the study Offshore Wind Toward 2020 – On the Pathway to Cost Competitiveness.
"The offshore wind industry will become increasingly important in the years ahead, because transforming the energy system without this one central pillar would be difficult to imagine," says Marcus Weber, partner at Germany-based Roland Berger.
"That makes it all the more important for the industry to quickly achieve cost-cutting industrialisation effects, and for the government to stake out a reliable framework."
As wind farms are moving further offshore into deeper waters, projects become more complex, driving up costs, the study says.
To be able to compete with other forms of energy, the offshore wind industry must therefore sharply cut the cost of energy generation.
A cost level of €0.09 per kWh hour should be reached for new installations, the study says, which would represent a 30% decrease from 2012 levels of €0.13 per kWh.
But that will require technological innovation, new financing models and a stable political framework, the study stresses.
Roland Berger sees the greatest cost savings potential in wind turbines, where it reckons costs could go down by a quarter, and in O&M, where it reckons costs could sink 28% through innovative concepts and the joint use of offshore service stations.
Quelle:www.rechargenews.com/wind/article1325950.ece