A UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE STUDY suggests offshore wind off the coast of Massachusetts can yield electricity at much lower prices than previously forecast, but only if policymakers green-light the development of at least 2,000 megawatts.
The 2,000-megawatt number happens to be the exact number that some House lawmakers are pushing for in the omnibus energy bill expected to be unveiled in April. House leaders say they favor a special carveout for offshore wind, meaning they would require the purchase of offshore wind power by the state’s utilities and rely on competition among a small pool of potential suppliers to keep costs down.
The University of Delaware study took as its starting point the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound and a small wind farm currently being built off the coast of Rhode Island by Deepwater Wind. The study said the levelized cost of energy from those two projects was 24 cents a kilowatt hour and 30 cents a kilowatt hour, respectively.
By contracting for 2,000 megawatts of offshore wind power, built in three stages, the study said the levelized price of electricity would start out at 16.2 cents a kilowatt hour, fall to 12.8 cents, and then drop to 10.8 cents over the 10-year period from 2020 to 2030. The levelized price is akin to an average price, but it is characterized in 2016 dollars and does not reflect any inflation adjustments. It also doesn’t take into account any government incentives for offshore wind production.
Willett Kempton, a professor at the University of Delaware’s School of Marine Science and Policy, said the key factor contributing to the falling prices is the commitment to purchase a large amount of electricity over a long time. He said the long-term commitment produces “market visibility,” which has a snowball effect on the offshore wind industry.
“Market visibility reduces cost by generating competition among developers and their suppliers and by creating a community of experienced project investors who see less risk and thus expect lower rates of return,” said the University of Delaware study. “Market visibility is achieved by government policy that commits to the buildout of a sequence of projects, as opposed to a policy for one single project, which has been previously seen in Massachusetts and other East Coast states. Also, building a series of projects leads to an experienced workforce for subsequent projects, which becomes more efficient as they learn by doing.”
Could you have found a more misleading title? I think you meant this to say “Study Addresses Feasibility of Offshore Wind”. Its well to keep in mind that the word “out” has more than one meaning but its most common use in a title is to denigrate. It would be a good idea to ask your readers about their expectations regarding content on viewing the title but before reading the article.
I realize now what you meant but that wasnt what I thought of on seeing the title!
current market price for 2019 power using conventional generation is 3.7 cents…so yeah, 16.2 cents is SUCH A BARGAIN!!!
Other People’s Money (OPM) is easy to spend. And “Other People’s Problems” (OPP) are easy to create.
Offshore wind is neither commercially reasonable nor technically viable.
Made in Germany (note that workers at Bremehaven offshore wind port in
Germany are interviewed)–
‘No Wind in Its Sails? Offshore wind farms in crisis’
“In cities like Bremerhaven, the offshore wind power industry is in crisis. Just a few years ago, the city was still drawing major companies like Areva, Weserwind and Powerblades. Nearly 4,000 new jobs were created over a decade. But with orders languishing, the companies are now cutting back.”
http://www.dw.de/no-wind-in-it…
February
21, 2016
The Sunday Times
‘When the wind blows, there’s little benefit for Scotland’
“The hype over our offshore farms has failed to match the reality in
spectacular fashion — and problems are mounting, writes former energy minister Brian
Wilson,.”
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.u…
‘Offshore Wind Turbine Maintenance Cost Fiasco: „100 Times More Expensive Than A New Turbine Itself“!’
By P Gosselin on 2. Februar 2016
“A press release by Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft reports how offshore North and Baltic Sea wind turbines need to be in operation for 25 years before they become profitable, but that they are prone to shortened lifespans due to rust from the harsh sea environment.
As a result the wind turbine installations need extra and very costly maintenance to ensure that they
survive long enough. It’s turning out to be an insurmountable challenge…”
– See more at:
http://notrickszone.com/2016/0…
‘Jobs go at Offshore Wind Solutions’
“German services outfit Offshore Wind Solutions is to cut up to 100 jobs, around one-third of the workforce, as
part of a restructuring plan.
“Staff were told in early February that jobs would go following the company’s failure to secure sufficient
work in the German North Sea.
A contract to address defects at Bard’s 400MW Bard Offshore 1 project, which started in 2013, is
now almost over. OWS will continue with regular O&M at the wind
farm…”
‘Offshore Wind Solutions cuts green jobs by 1/3 (-100) due to lack of work’
Renewable Energy News
http://renews.biz/101474/jobs-…
…
‘Unreliable Power: Major Technical Failure Sidelines Another Offshore Wind Park…Adding To Exploding Costs’
By P Gosselin on 4. Februar 2016
‘Unreliable Power: Major Technical Failure Sidelines Another Offshore Wind Park…Adding To
Exploding Costs’
“I’ve reported earlier on Germany’s BARD 1 offshore engineering fiasco, where technical problems continue plaguing the wind park and has yet to deliver power on shore to reach markets. Even today the
situation there remains unclear.
Moreover, just days I ago I reported how an expert institute confirmed that offshore wind park installations are highly vulnerable to the harsh sea conditions and plagued by stratospheric maintenance costs.
Well there is another major wind park that is now struggling with major technical problems and thus will not be able to deliver power until at least (optimistically) April. The giant offshore Riffgat wind park hasn’t delivered
power since November of last year, so reports NDR German public broadcasting here…”
http://notrickszone.com/2016/0…
SEENEWS RENEWABLES
Jan 25, 2016
Offshore Wind project, Vattenfall, dismantled due to technical and financial problems.
http://renewables.seenews.com/…
More–
SeeNews Renewables, February 23, 2015:
‘Dong’s Anholt offshore wind farm shuts down due to new cable fault’
RENEWS Jan 27, 2015: 273 faulty blades must be repaired or replaced after only 6 years (Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farm in Denmark)
RENEWS Dec 29, 2014: Nuon has shut down the nearshore wind farm, Lely, in the Netherlands after the rotor head and blades fell off.
Spiegel: Germany’s Large-Scale Offshore Windpark Dream Morphs Into An Engineering And Cost Nightmare
By P Gosselin on 11. September 2014
(my summary with quotes)
Germany’s flagship BARD Offshore I is a 400MW wind project intended to supply the energy needs of 400,000 households. But Bard Offshore 1 remains out of operation according to industry source Offshore Wind Biz
(June 2014) citing: “frequent technical problems with the converter substation,” “a smoldering fire,” “failure of the system,” “five unplanned outages since the beginning of 2014” and “transmission problems.”
WindPowerOffshore (September 19, 2014) reports the:
“Danish company Vattenfall is going to dismantle the Yttre Stengrund in Swedish waters after only 13 years of operation. “Only one in (5) turbines is currently operational.”
Wall Street Journal [1/08/14]:
“Siemens, the world’s largest manufacturer of offshore wind turbines, and its partners concede they underestimated the challenges behind offshore wind.
The financial fallout from these challenges was highlighted on Thursday, when Siemens said it booked €128 million ($171 million) in new charges related to connecting offshore wind farms to the power grid. It blamed unexpectedly high costs for shipping, installing and starting up grid components.”
Spiegel International article ‘Turbine Trouble: Ill Wind Blows for German Offshore Industry’ states, “
Operators of offshore wind farms depend on sufficiently high electricity prices to refinance their investments.”
CBS 60 Minutes (focus Massachusetts)
‘The Great Brain Robbery’
“Economic espionage sponsored by the Chinese government is costing U.S. corporations hundreds of billions of dollars and more than two million jobs…”
Publicly-funded & Stolen wind turbine technology installed in MA presents a risk to national security–
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60…
The metric Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) is seriously flawed as stated here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2014/11/29/levelized-cost-of-electricity-renewable-energys-ticking-time-bomb/#dc26ea03a85b
Wind power is not dispachable like conventional power. As a result its product, energy, cannot be produced without the support of conventional power. The LCOE ignores that support, and understates the cost by a significant factor.