In Recharge’s Next wave of floating wind begins to build, Darius Snieckus writes about how first-generation designs will break the nascent market open globally, but will have competition from new-look concepts also angling at a sub- €50/MWh cost of energy before 2030.

In the article, Giles Hundleby views on floating technology and cost reduction are quoted several times including:

  • “Many of these new concepts – X1 Wind’s, Saitec’s, EnerOcean’s and others – have this potential, to either solve some of the technical problems and/or reduce some of the cost when compared to the earlier designs, which, of course, they have benefited from studying over the past decade. It is very positive these new designs are coming. Whether some of the innovations they are adding [to the engineering] are ‘killer apps’ – which could be adaptable by other platform concepts, too – it is still a little too early to say. Certainly, they could have an important role for the sector by showing in which new areas of technology or manufacturability costs could be further driven down.”
  • “A lot is dependent on the speed and the volume ramp-up by the sector. “We will definitely see a sub-€50/MWh [LCOE] when we see the first 1GW project switched on – and to be clear, we couldn’t do this tomorrow, it will require 200MW and 500MW projects first. And if we can get to 15GW installed by 2030 – or beyond this – then that low an LCOE is achievable. You only need to have a few substantial successes in the next couple of years – off Japan, France, Scotland, Norway and the US, totaling 6-8GW – and you can start to see how this all takes off.”

You can read the full article here: Next wave of floating wind begins to build (A subscription may be required). It first appeared on Recharge on 23 April 2019