Deep_Water

Content
Foreword .........................................................................................................................................4
Executive summary........................................................................................................................6
1. Unlocking the promising offshore wind market potential.................................................. 10
1.1 Offshore wind market - 2012......................................................................................................... 11
1.2 Market trends - moving into deeper waters with bigger turbines........................................................ 14
1.3 Market outlook............................................................................................................................. 15
2. The coming of the deep offshore designs............................................................................ 18
2.1 State of the art............................................................................................................................. 20
2.2 Europe’s first mover advantage...................................................................................................... 25
- Europe....................................................................................................................................... 25
- National developments............................................................................................................... 25
- The United States....................................................................................................................... 27
- Japan........................................................................................................................................ 28
3. Deploying deep offshore technologies – key challenges.................................................... 30
3.1 Technical and infrastructure challenges.......................................................................................... 31
- Modelling and numerical tools..................................................................................................... 31
- Optimised wind turbines for floating support structures................................................................. 31
- Connection to the grid................................................................................................................. 32
3.2 The economics of deep offshore projects........................................................................................ 32
- Installation, operations and maintenance..................................................................................... 32
- Assessing the costs of the deep offshore designs........................................................................ 33
3.3 Non-market barriers...................................................................................................................... 34
- Stability and clarity of the legislative framework............................................................................ 34
- Challenges to commercialisation................................................................................................. 35
4. Recommendations.................................................................................................................. 38
Annex............................................................................................................................................ 40
Deep Water - The next step for offshore wind energy 5