range for global offshore – number of offshore wind farms is growing
Hamburg, 14 June 2018 – The offshore sector of the wind industry has made headlines in recent months. It has progressed rapidly, both in technical innovation and in the competitiveness of offshore energy in the electricity market. Many of the companies active in the offshore wind market are presenting their portfolios at WindEnergy Hamburg, the world’s leading expo for onshore and offshore wind energy, from 25 to 28 September. The expo will be held in parallel with the global conference of WindEurope at the Hamburg Messe site – together they comprise the Global Wind Summit, the biggest and most important meeting of the wind industry worldwide. WindEnergy Hamburg is expecting some 1,400 exhibitors from all parts of the world, with about 40% of them showcasing products or services for offshore wind farms. The range covers the whole of the value chain, from turbines, towers and foundations to gearboxes, generators, bearings, shafts and lubes to O&M solutions and installation vessels.
Global world market growth
Besides main offshore wind market Europe, other geographical regions of the world might start experiencing quick growth too in the next years says GWEC in its 2017 Global Wind Report. The organization points at emerging markets with huge interest in the technology and substantial growth potential including Taiwan, South Korea, the US (east-coast), Japan, and India, Brazil, and Australia. China is already the largest offshore market outside Europe, with according Wikipedia ‘Liste der Offshore-Windparks’ statistics close to 2GW operation at the end of 2017. Among Chinese offshore wind exhibitors in Hamburg are turbine OEM’s Envison Energy and Ming Yang.
Offshore according GWEC represented last year about 8% of the global market, and represents 3.5% of the cumulative installed capacity but growing fast. Global offshore installations in 2017 were 4,334MW, of which around 27% installed in markets outside Europe. Overall, there are now 18,814MW of installed offshore capacity around the world.
According WindEurope’s report Offshore Wind in Europe; Key trends and statistics 2017, Europe’s net installed capacity, spread over 560 new turbines across 17 windfarms, increased last year by 3,148MW. The average offshore turbine capacity more than doubled to 5.9MW over the past decade, and 23% higher set against 2016. Project size for offshore windfarms under construction during 2017 grew to 493 MW from a 79.6 MW average in 2007. Current windfarm size record holder is the 1.2GW Hornsea One project (UK) with construction start this year. A 2017 floating wind milestone was the commissioning of the world’s first windfarm, Scotland’s 30MW Hywind II consisting of five 6MW Siemens Gamesa direct drive turbines.
Internationally, new innovative technology and fresh solutions for ‘traditional’ fixed-bottom and floating wind generate huge interest. A number of Belgian exhibitors all active in offshore wind jointly represent themselves in Hamburg as the BOC VZW Belgian Offshore Cluster in a national pavilion. BOC is an association of offshore wind industry co-suppliers with around 60 members. “At the Belgian pavilion at WindEnergy Hamburg our partners will highlight their specific know-how and experiences to international wind industry visitors”, said BOC chairman Christophe Dehaene.
A main overall theme for all international contenders is how to successfully enter new and emerging markets. The Global Wind Summit in Hamburg offers therefore an excellent platform opportunity. A second main theme is achieving optimized cost-effectiveness through the deployment of next-generation large-scale turbines.
Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas dominate Europe’s largest offshore wind market with direct drive and medium-speed geared turbine solutions respectively, in ratings up to 9.5MW. They and other exhibitors like GE Renewable Energy and Senvion all explore next-generation 10-15MW+ future platforms. German engineering consultancy aerodyn-engineering develops a fully integrated 15MW floating system incorporating twin 7.5MW two-bladed counter-rotating downwind turbines with 150-metre rotor diameters.
