Offshore wind outlook
“The deployment of offshore wind energy is at the core of delivering the European Green Deal.” To support the long-term sustainable development of this sector, the EU Commission sets targets for an installed capacity of at least 60 GW of offshore wind by 2030, and 300 GW by 2050. It is an enormous growth in comparison with the total installed offshore wind capacity of 16.3 GW in the EU in 2022.
Ref: Offshore Wind Market Report: 2022 edition – US Department of Energy
Offshore wind foundation challenges
- Responsible for ~20% of CAPEX
- Rapid growth in turbine size (+15 MW)
- Windfarms in deeper waters (+40 m)
- Infeasibility of monopiles (+3000 T)
- Excessive noise of piling
- T&I costs, constrains and vessels’ scarcity
- High CAPEX of jackets
- High CAPEX of floating (~2 €/W)
- Infeasibility of concrete GBFs (+8000 T)m.
