[OANNES Foro] Floating windfarms raise hopes for a greener future

[Mario Cabrejos]

Floating windfarms raise hopes for a greener future
A green light for new floating platforms off the Scottish coast should help lower the cost of a low-carbon economy
Terry Macalister The Observer
Sunday 24 November 2013 
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/24/windfarms-float-on-sea-greener-future


 
The Hywind floating turbine off Norway's coast has been a testbed for the system.
A floating windfarm, which ministers hope could hold the key to cutting the cost of renewable energy, has been given the go-ahead by the Crown Estate. The Buchan Deep project will see five turbines with a combined power of 30 megawatts installed by the Norwegian oil company Statoil off the coast of Aberdeenshire in 100 metres of water.

Approval comes as rising fuel bills and a wavering political commitment to developing a low-carbon economy is leading some energy companies to consider cutting back on offshore wind.

Energy and climate change minister Michael Fallon said putting turbines on floating platforms rather than concrete bases in the seabed "underlines the dynamism of the sector". The scheme follows a trend set in the North Sea oil and gas business, where floating production platforms drastically reduced the cost of hydrocarbons and made it possible to move into deeper waters.

The wind industry has set itself a target of cutting its costs by 30% and the Buchan Deep scheme is pencilled in as a major contributor if the trials go well. The Crown Estate, which manages most of the seabed around the UK, says it worked with Statoil for more than two years before approving the project.

"Investing in new technologies will be crucial to unlocking offshore wind potential over the long term while we focus on the current development pipeline," said Huub den Rooijen, head of offshore wind at the Crown Estate.

Fallon said: "This innovative project will lead to the construction of the first floating offshore windfarms in the UK. This underlines the UK's attractiveness as the number one destination for offshore wind development."

Statoil, which makes the bulk of its earnings from selling oil and gas, has been experimenting with one floating turbine, the Hywind, off the coast of Norway since 2009. The Scottish project allows the company to test the system as an "array", or farm, to see how it will work with half a dozen turbines operating simultaneously in close proximity. Statoil has not given a final investment approval to the Buchan Deep scheme but called the go-ahead from the Crown Estate a significant milestone towards getting a floating farm up and running.

"We look forward to a progressed dialogue with key stakeholders in Scotland, including communities, the local supply chain and the authorities," said Siri Espedal Kindem, Statoil's senior vice-president for renewable energy. "We will continue to mature the Hywind pilot towards a final investment decision, by conducting marine surveys and concept studies in order to demonstrate technical and commercial feasibility."

The need for cheaper solutions comes as the government's climate change adviser warned that offshore windfarms may not be built unless subsidies are increased by the government.

The committee on climate change wrote to Ed Davey, the energy and climate change secretary, in September saying that "required investment" was at risk unless further financial support was provided. A group of industry developers have made the same point to government.

But ministers believe it is up to industry to find ways of reducing the costs of offshore wind, and in late June unveiled proposed reductions in subsidy levels for the rest of the decade.

Den Rooijen, a former Shell oil executive, is optimistic that costs can be cut and that the sector will continue to grow, but admits that the UK is likely to see a retrenchment from the estimated 40,000MW (40 gigawatts) of projects that some originally believed could be possible.

"The full 40GW is not all going to be developed - certainly not over the near to medium term - and the consequence of that is [that] it is really important that the industry carries forward the best projects in the pipeline," he said.

Increased knowledge about seabed and weather conditions for foundations and cable costs allowed project developers to select which schemes to take forward and which not, he said.

Last month, offshore wind provided 5% of national electricity consumption from around 24 farms producing 3.6GW. There is now, in total, more than 5GW - enough to power 4m homes - in operation or under construction, at an estimated cost close to £15bn.

The industry grew by 80% as four very large offshore projects became operational during the last 18 months: Greater Gabbard, Gunfleet Sands III, Sheringham Shoal and the London Array off the coast of Kent, currently the biggest offshore windfarm in the world, generating 630MW of power.

Maria McCaffery, chief executive of trade body RenewableUK, stressed this month that the sector was providing jobs as well as low-carbon energy security: "Tens of thousands more will be joining the industry over the rest of this decade as we build out the rest of the projects in the pipeline - as long as government policy is supportive and provides the right framework for one of this country's greatest modern industrial and environmental success stories to reach its full potential."
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