New Study Shows How North Sea Offshore Wind Can Yield More While Costing Less

A less dense development of offshore wind in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea, and a relocation of capacities to neighboring countries can both increase the yield from offshore wind and reduce costs, a new study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES) has shown.

With Germany’s current expansion target of 70 gigawatts (GW) by 2045 and the planned land use to date, the utilization of offshore wind power will fall far short of its technical potential, the study has shown.

While the North Sea is among the windiest regions worldwide, shading effects would significantly reduce the achievable yield of up to 5,000 full-load hours. Furthermore, the close proximity of wind farms reduces each other’s wind output.

A possible answer is provided by a study initiated by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the German Offshore Wind Energy Association (BWO). Cross-border expansion and Europe-wide coordination of capacities and area development plans can counteract the problem and significantly reduce shadowing effects.

The study’s scenarios envision installing up to 20 GW of capacity in the waters of Germany’s neighboring countries and feeding the electricity into the German grid.

The capacity utilization of the plants there would be higher, and the overall costs for the construction and operation of the wind farms would be significantly lower, according to the study.

Depending on the scenario, full-load hours and yields could increase by an average of 6 to 13 per cent, while at the same time the cost per megawatt-hour of offshore electricity generated could decrease by 6 to 11 per cent.

With a stronger focus on area yield and cost efficiency, an installed offshore wind capacity of around 50-60 GW could be achieved in the German EEZ by 2045. Together with the wind farms with up to 20 GW capacity from neighboring countries, the overall target of 70 GW would thus still be realistic.

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