U.S. offshore areas hold enormous potential for wind energy development near the nation’s highest areas of electricity demand – coastal metropolitan centers, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

“More than three-fourths of the nation’s electricity demand comes from coastal states and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states actually exceeds our entire U.S. electricity demand,” Salazar told a group working to lower America’s carbon emissions.

“The realities of climate change are upon us,” Salazar said. “For too long we have ignored the true costs of our energy use. Building America’s clean energy future is front and center on President Obama’s agenda. He knows that if we are to turn our economy around; that if we are to lead the next great technological transformation in our world; and that if we are to create millions of new clean-energy jobs here at home, we must finally take the moon-shot on energy independence.”

Department of the Interior, which manages one-fifth of the nation’s land mass and 1.7 billion acres of ocean off the U.S. coasts, will have a major role in creating the nation’s clean-energy future, Salazar said. The Department’s Bureau of Land Management has identified about 20.6 million acres of public land with wind energy potential in the 11 western states and 29.5 million acres with solar energy potential in the six southwestern states. There are also over 140 million acres of public land in the western states and Alaska with geothermal resource potential.

There is also significant wind and wave potential in U.S. offshore waters. The National Renewable Energy Lab has identified more than 1,000 gigawatts of wind potential off the Atlantic coast, and more than 900 gigawatts of wind potential off the Pacific Coast. The Lab estimates that the class 5 wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states exceeds the entire U.S. electricity demand. Currently, there are more than 2,000 megawatts of offshore wind projects proposed in the United States.

“We are opening our doors not just to oil and gas and coal, but also to the wise development of solar, wind and wave, biofuels, geothermal, and small hydro on America’s lands,” Salazar said.

Source: www.doi.gov
Images: rodonnelly

As the onshore market continues to grow in certain regions and move slowly towards saturation in others, offshore wind is expected to form a greater part of the pie from the meager 2% that it is now. Onshore wind will always occupy a major share of the wind energy market. However, Frost & Sullivan expects offshore wind to grow from an insignificant part of the pie to a more substantial contributor of electricity generated from wind by 2020. According to Frost & Sullivan estimates, installed capacity of offshore wind is expected to grow from 1,276 MW in 2008 to 18,769 MW by 2015.

100 Turbines off Kent in the North Shore

The UK government has been blamed for its renewable energy policies not having enough teeth to encourage companies to invest in the UK whether it be onshore or offshore or project development or manufacturing. However, with the increase in the number of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) from 1.5 ROCs/Wh to 2 ROCs/MWh outlined in the budget in April the UK government gave a huge boost to the offshore wind energy industry.

World's first large-scale floating wind turbine off Norway

The green light for the 1GW offshore wind farm in the UK, the world’s biggest wind farm project, is the beginning of new and important developments of projects in this market. Frost & Sullivan’s Industry Analyst Gouri Kumar believes that “after a string of bad news in the industry, this is a significant change that will provide a stimulus to investors in the UK as well as in the rest of Europe. And this is especially important in consideration of the current economic climate.”

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Large Wind Turbines: Design and Economics In the light of the extensive debate surrounding the economics of scale of wind turbines, this timely work examines the engineering implications of developing lightweight compliant designs. Through the development of a unique modeling approach, the authors quantify the weight and cost of a diverse range of design solutions, enabling systematic quantitative comparisons to be made for the first time.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c88388) has announced the addition of Offshore Wind Power Market Potential to their offering.

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into useful forms, such as electricity, using wind turbines. In windmills, wind energy is directly used to crush grain or to pump water. At the end of 2007, worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was 94.1 gigawatts. Although wind currently produces just over 1% of worldwide electricity use, it accounts for approximately 19% of electricity production in Denmark, 9% in Spain and Portugal, and 6% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland (2007 data). Globally, wind power generation increased more than fivefold between 2000 and 2007.

The deployment of offshore wind power can be considered to have happened in two phases to date. The first phase involved a series of small demonstration projects generally constructed in sheltered shallow waters from 1995 to 2000. The second phase was for projects, which still had a demonstration role, but which were of an increasingly commercial nature and were developed in more technically demanding situations between 2000 and 2004. In the year 2000, seven mostly small-scale demonstration projects were operational. By 2004, the industry had developed 15 projects many of them large-scale and fully commercial.

The estimated cost of offshore wind energy varies widely depending on the project, but some studies indicate that offshore projects cost significantly more than land-based turbine systems. Much of the premium that is now being paid for offshore systems can be attributed to higher costs for foundations, installation, operation and maintenance.

As wind turbines are adapted for offshore, the process of achieving favourable economics depends less on reducing wind turbine costs and more on a full system life cycle cost approach.

The report on Offshore Wind Energy is a complete analysis of the global offshore wind energy industry, with special focus on the United States and Europe, the leaders in offshore wind energy developments today. The report analyzes the technology, barriers to the development of offshore wind energy, regulatory framework, country-wide market analysis, and a profile of the major industry players.

Companies Mentioned:
Cielo Wind Power
Enercon
FPL Energy
Gamesa Eolica
GE Energy
PPM Energy
Renewable Energy Systems
Shell Renewables
Suzlon Energy
Siemens
Vestas Wind Systems