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Huge wind turbines will cut offshore costs 38% in 7 yrs, says developer

By Paul Dvorak | June 1, 2013

Dong energy home pageMassive wind turbines with almost 100m blades will cut the cost of offshore wind energy by at least 38% in seven years, according to a Danish company. Dong Energy, the world’s largest developer and operator of offshore wind farms, aims to cut the cost of wind energy in the North Sea to less than €100 ($130) per MWh by 2020 compared with €160 ($209) last year.

The company, owned by the Danish state, drills for and produces oil and natural gas, and operates conventional power plants in Europe, says it can achieve this cost reduction for offshore wind in the U.K. sector of the North Sea. “It’s very challenging, but we think it’s very much a realistic and achievable target,” said Benj Sykes, wind power director for the United Kingdom at Dong. “The cost-of-energy target requires governments to ensure transparent planning, consenting and support regimes up to 2020 and beyond. This will ensure investment certainty, continuous build-out rates and project flow, which will in turn secure maturation of supply chain and technical innovation and investments.”

Dong’s target is actually more ambitious than that of the U.K. government, which wants developers to cut the cost of offshore wind to £100 ($152) per MWh by 2020. It still wouldn’t be as cheap as onshore wind, which currently costs about $85 per MWh, while coal costs $82 and natural gas costs $71. The company aims to achieve its target in the United Kingdom, where it is involved in every aspect of offshore wind, from turbines, array cables, offshore substations and export cables to onshore substations before the power goes to the national transmission grid. At its offshore wind farms in Germany and Denmark, the company is in charge only of the turbines, cables and offshore substations, so it has less scope to control the total cost of energy.

To get to €100 per MWh, Dong plans to radically increase the size of the offshore turbines it will install, from 3 to 4 megawatts currently to 8 to 10 MW in 2016 through 2020. Such turbines don’t even exist yet.

Dong Energy

www.dongenergy.com


Filed Under: Construction, News, Offshore wind

 

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Paul Dvorak

Comments

  1. Shamil Ayntrazi says

    October 20, 2013 at 5:05 am

    Greetings,
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    OUTPUT
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    iii. Solar Energy, 200 sqm 10,910 KW-H
    Total per meter sea front 63,089 KW-H
    Wind Turbine Rating Output KW-H Total KW-H
    a. 0.75 MW W. Turbine 31,250 KW-H 94,339
    b. 1 MW W. Turbine 28,571 KW-H 91,660
    c. 3 MW W. Turbine 64,286 KW-H 127,375
    d. 7 MW W. Turbine 123,529 KW-H 186,618
    e. 10 MW W. Turbine 142,587 KW-H 205,675
    b. For a sale price of 10 US cents per KW-H would provide a minimum rate of return on capital investment – ROI way above 12% excluding government incentives, tax breaks and bridge toll where the floating bridge is used for vehicular transport.
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    Email: sayntrazi@hotmail.com
    Website: http://www.renewableenergypumps.com
    15496 Village Woods Drive,
    Eden Prairie, Minnesota, MN 55347, USA

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