ETI Offshore Renewables Programme Manager Andrew Scott presented at the Offshore Wind 4: Floating Turbines session at All-Energy 2015 on ‘the 2050 potential for floating foundations in UK waters’.
In his presentation, Scott said that floating wind concept is not about going far offshore, but about making best use of good wind resources close enough to shore to deliver attractive LCOE.
Developing cost effective foundation types, suitable for water depths greater than 30m, can contribute to deliver lowest cost offshore wind .
Based on ETI’s insights, if 40GW of offshore wind is deployed by 2050, between 8 and 16GW could be tension leg platform (TLP) based floating offshore wind. Scottish and Welsh waters are particularly well suited for TLP technology, while English sites are better suited for other floating technologies. In shallower water, fixed foundations are a more attractive solution.
Floating wind systems could be ready for mass deployment in late 2020s, Scott said in the presentation.
Image: ETI