Offshore wind is a rapidly maturing sector, increasingly seen as a major contributor to electricity supply in states with coastal demand centers and good wind resources. While an almost 3-decade history exists in European experience, the US only recently is beginning to move forward with grid-scale projects on national and state levels. As floating wind is scaled up, to minimize technical risks experienced in the past, formal processes will help to identify the novel features, novel applications, and highest-risk components.
Technical and Commercial Context: Demonstration Projects
Large offshore wind farms have been built by all countries with coastlines on the southern North Sea, the area with the most favorable conditions: strong, consistent winds; water depths of less than 40 m; sand or clay deeper than 70 m; and close proximity to onshore electrical distribution networks and centers of high demand. Rapid reductions have been realized in the cost of electricity, calculated over the full project lifetime, from well over 200 Euros/MWhr for the first large-scale wind farms to 50/MWhr.
