xcitement mounts as offshore wind developments in Europe are set to become an €130 billion global market by 2020
A new report from consultancy Roland Berger concluded global investment in offshore wind power is set to rise to €130bn by 2020 but that the industry must cut the cost of its electricity by around 30 per cent over the next seven years in order to become competitive with other energy generation sources.
Once project executions that started in 2012 and 2013 are connected to the grid, Europe’s total installed capacity will reach roughly 9,455 MW, an increase of 89% on the 2012 end of year total (EWEA). Whilst the UK dominates the market, other countries such as Belgium, Germany, and Denmark continue to increase their installed capacity. Significant support for further development of Offshore Wind has also been seen in the USA and in the Asia Pacific showing that Offshore Wind is globally recognised as one of the preferred sources of electricity generation.
Market share of Offshore Wind continues to grow, and so does the size of wind farm. Around 1,400 MW of new generating capacity will come on line in Europe this year and a further 1,900 MW by the end of 2014 (EWEA). This growth means that Europe once again has cemented itself as the world leader in Offshore Wind. However in order to meet 2020 renewable energy targets, developers, finance providers and supply chain companies must work collaboratively to bring down costs and reduce risk in order to make offshore wind cost competitive.
If capital expenditure [CAPEX] costs are to be bought down to a point where the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCoE) is lowered to £100 / €120 MWh then careful plans, pre-construction preparation, supplier and contractor selection are all equally essential. In order to do that successfully a number of issues must be addressed such as what new technologies are proven to work, which installation strategy to use and how to structure your contacts.
This is why the original offshore construction focussed conference will return in its 5th consecutive year again to Hamburg, Germany – the hub of offshore excitement for the next 5 years as found in a recent Wind Energy Update survey. The industry focussed event will bring together over 200 offshore wind installation experts for two days of business critical information disclosure.
This offshore construction specific conference will bring together the key developers, utilities, contractors, government representatives, and other key and other current industry experts to deliver not only their successes in far shore deepwater installation, but also their downfalls so to equip others with the knowledge needed for future installation projects. Speakers include senior level representatives from the UK and European major stakeholders including Ofgem, Ministry of Economy of Belgium, DONG Energy, EnBW, RWE, Vattenfall, Mainstream Renewable Power, Scottish Power Renewables and many more.
For more details, just visit: http://www.windenergyupdate.com/farshore-installation/
