Offshore wind power

[mblakele]

Looks like there's a race to deploy offshore wind in the USA before incentives expire:

Energy firms bet on offshore wind farms in America

Selected quotes:

More than 4,000 wind turbines already twirl off the coasts of Europe. In America, just five short turbines poke out of the waves near Rhode Island, despite the north-east’s shallow waters, high wind speeds and millions of energy-hungry consumers. America’s most famous offshore wind project remains one never built. Cape Wind, proposed in 2001, spent 16 years battling fishermen and rich landowners, including the Kennedy family, whose concern over climate change did not dull their desire for an unspoilt view. Faced with such headaches, wind developers invested in Europe or sought firm ground in America’s Midwest, home to big gusts and residents accustomed to using land for both pleasure and purpose.

[...]

The region has no big turbine manufacturers, so firms must pay to transport parts from Europe. A 99-year-old law means that they cannot use European ships that are specially designed to install turbines. No such American ship yet exists. There are insufficient ports to handle the heavy components needed for turbines. And an investment tax credit for wind is due to expire in 2020. States are rushing to hold auctions this year, but inevitably many projects will come too late to use the credit.​

 

[nwdiver]

IMO offshore wind is BY FAR the most under-utilized energy source we have available. At the height of WWII the US was cranking out a cargo ship every 3 days. No reason we can't have shipyards spitting out 12MW wind turbines at the same or greater pace.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

IMO offshore wind is BY FAR the most under-utilized energy source we have available. At the height of WWII the US was cranking out a cargo ship every 3 days. No reason we can't have shipyards spitting out 12MW wind turbines at the same or greater pace.

Offshore is still expensive.

In the USA it's competing against cheap natural gas, plus ever-cheaper solar and onshore wind.

For Europe, with more expensive natural gas, massive North Sea wind resources, and relatively poor solar resources, offshore wind is a more competitive technology.

Still, the turbines are growing, and costs are falling. It's one to watch. Particularly in New England where winter natural gas prices can spike high, it's possible that offshore wind could end up being competitive through avoided cost.

I think that geothermal is still significantly underutilized.

 

[iPlug]

Massive wind turbine blade arrives in Massachusetts for testing

...GE Renewable Energy said the blade would be subjected to a “series of fatigue tests” at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Wind Technology Testing Center...

...The firm is aiming to commercialize the Haliade-X 12MW by 2021. With a capacity of 12 megawatts and a height of 260 meters, the scale of the turbine is considerable. The company has repeatedly described it as “the world’s largest offshore wind turbine” and says that one turbine will be able to power more than 5,000 U.S. homes...

...The country’s first offshore wind farm, the five turbine, 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode island, only commenced commercial operations in late 2016.

By comparison, Europe is home to over 18,400 MW of installed offshore wind capacity, according to industry body WindEurope...​

 

[iPlug]

Five-part audio series highlighting people who lead the battle to protect the planet from rising temperatures.

Was not able to find a transcript, but a couple highlights:
-the IEA estimates that by 2040 costs for offshore wind are expected to decrease further by 60%
-offshore wind could meet 11x total international electricity demand by 2040, according to the IEA

The man who took wind power to another level

 

[mspohr]

China poised to power huge growth in global offshore wind energy

China poised to power huge growth in global offshore wind energy

The world’s offshore windfarm capacity could grow eightfold by the end of the decade powered by a clean energy surge led by China, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

 

[SageBrush]

Between PV and wind and HVDC connections, the world really does have the parts it needs for an almost complete transition to cheap, clean energy.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

China poised to power huge growth in global offshore wind energy

China poised to power huge growth in global offshore wind energy

The world’s offshore windfarm capacity could grow eightfold by the end of the decade powered by a clean energy surge led by China, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

Ah, Guardian, you just couldn't do it, could you?

China powering it? No.
The GWEC's own headline was "Offshore wind will surge to over 234 GW by 2030, led by Asia-Pacific"
GWEC: Offshore wind will surge to over 234 GW by 2030, led by Asia-Pacific | Global Wind Energy Council

Asia-Pacific growth is expected to be the largest, but based on the numbers in the original press release, of the 205GW growth the countries /areas with largest growth will be in:
China 45GW
UK 30.6GW
USA 22.6GW
Germany 12.5 GW
Netherlands 10.4 GW

The numbers that clearly jump out are the UK and the Netherlands, and together with Germany it's clear that a _lot_ of North Sea offshore wind will be added.

In 2017 the UK's peak demand was 57GW. In the Netherlands peak demand was 18.9GW.
UK will add 30.5GW, the Netherlands 10.4GW. Peak demand is forecast to rise, with a shift to EVs and emphasis on electric heating over fossil fuels, but still that's going to be a substantial fraction of peak demand being offshore wind.

The UK also currently has 13.6GW of onshore wind capacity.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Between PV and wind and HVDC connections, the world really does have the parts it needs for an almost complete transition to cheap, clean energy.

PV, wind, existing hydro, HVDC and batteries (including in EVs) and other storage.

PV/wind EROI >> 1
EVs 3-4 times as efficient as gasoline and diesel.
Heat pumps with COPs of 2.5 to 4.

It's amazing how much growth of these technologies could reduce fossil energy demand.

 

[SageBrush]

PV, wind, existing hydro, HVDC and batteries (including in EVs) and other storage.

PV/wind EROI >> 1
EVs 3-4 times as efficient as gasoline and diesel.
Heat pumps with COPs of 2.5 to 4.

It's amazing how much growth of these technologies could reduce fossil energy demand.

Absolutely. And if you add in better building codes and integrated, "smart" energy design this all begins to look like child's play ;-)

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Absolutely. And if you add in better building codes and integrated, "smart" energy design this all begins to look like child's play ;-)

What's more, in terms of energy demand it should look like nothing's happening until suddenly it's obvious.

Technological energy systems generally embed extra energy in manufacturing, and then gradually return the savings/additions over their lifetime.

So, in a period of expansion extra energy is required to feed it, until deployment reaches the point where the periodic energy savings outweigh the initial manufacturing energy.

 

[iPlug]

A group of California lawmakers, including Chiu, have introduced a bill this session that would set a goal of producing 10 gigawatts of power from wind energy by 2040. It also would create a “short-term” goal of 3 gigawatts of power from offshore wind by 2030. The California Energy Commission would have until June 2022 to come up with a plan on how to reach the target.​

How About Wind? California Explores Plan For Wind Energy Along Coast To Combat Climate Change.

 

[SageBrush]

A group of California lawmakers, including Chiu, have introduced a bill this session that would set a goal of producing 10 gigawatts of power from wind energy by 2040. It also would create a “short-term” goal of 3 gigawatts of power from offshore wind by 2030. The California Energy Commission would have until June 2022 to come up with a plan on how to reach the target.​

How About Wind? California Explores Plan For Wind Energy Along Coast To Combat Climate Change.

I think CA will need floating platforms to exploit its off-shore wind on a large scale. Hopefully that enabling tech will progress rapidly

 

[iPlug]

Offshore wind is an excellent complement to solar PV here in CA.

Seasonally, offshore wind turbines produce their peak average production in the spring and summer months, particularly during the evening hours...Grid energy demand peaks in the summer months in the evening hours, and its demand throughout the day is larger on average compared to other months of the year...This indicates offshore wind energy ramps up its power production in the evenings complimenting peak energy demand, thereby providing a significant advantage over other renewable energy sources such as solar that ramp-down during peak demand times (e.g., solar peaks midday and decreases into the evenings, whereas demand and offshore wind decrease midday and increase into the evening)...​

​

https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1179&context=physsp

 

[SageBrush]

Offshore wind is an excellent complement to solar PV here in CA.

Yes it is, although New Mexico wind is even better

 

[iPlug]

Yes it is, although New Mexico wind is even better

Keep building and sending our way, we’ll take that too.

A quick google search didn’t reveal NM wind seasonality and time of day peaks/troughs. If you have a link, please share.

Edit:
Found some charts showing peak in spring, still looking for time of day; just about any wind is good but peak early evening would be most valuable/complimentary to solar PV and minimize RE curtailment and fossil fuel use

 

[iPlug]

The U.S. has fallen way behind Europe partly because of an old shipping law and opposition from homeowners and fishing groups.​

​

A constellation of 5,400 offshore wind turbines meet a growing portion of Europe’s energy needs. The United States has exactly seven.​

​

With more than 90,000 miles of coastline, the country has plenty of places to plunk down turbines. But legal, environmental and economic obstacles and even vanity have stood in the way.​

Offshore Wind Farms Show What Biden’s Climate Plan Is Up Against

 

[mblakele]

Energy firms bet on offshore wind farms in America

[...]​

​

The region has no big turbine manufacturers, so firms must pay to transport parts from Europe. A 99-year-old law means that they cannot use European ships that are specially designed to install turbines. No such American ship yet exists. There are insufficient ports to handle the heavy components needed for turbines. And an investment tax credit for wind is due to expire in 2020. States are rushing to hold auctions this year, but inevitably many projects will come too late to use the credit.​

The U.S. has fallen way behind Europe partly because of an old shipping law and opposition from homeowners and fishing groups.​

​

A constellation of 5,400 offshore wind turbines meet a growing portion of Europe’s energy needs. The United States has exactly seven.​

​

With more than 90,000 miles of coastline, the country has plenty of places to plunk down turbines. But legal, environmental and economic obstacles and even vanity have stood in the way.​

Offshore Wind Farms Show What Biden’s Climate Plan Is Up Against

Two years later and nothing much has changed. Well, I suppose the regressive, protectionist Jones Act is now 101 years old

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Two years later and nothing much has changed. Well, I suppose the regressive, protectionist Jones Act is now 101 years old

Well, they're building ships, so the act obviously did its job.

Given that wind farms need repowering every 20 years, plus occasionally need earlier turbine replacements, at any significant scale you'd want a domestic fleet available anyway.

And offshore wind isn't as important for the USA anyway. There's 1.10231 US craptons of other, cheaper renewable resources to be exploited.

 

[SageBrush]

Well, they're building ships, so the act obviously did its job.

Given that wind farms need repowering every 20 years, plus occasionally need earlier turbine replacements, at any significant scale you'd want a domestic fleet available anyway.

And offshore wind isn't as important for the USA anyway. There's 1.10231 US craptons of other, cheaper renewable resources to be exploited.

They built/are building ONE ship. In return the country has an extra 10 years of extra emissions, and more to go. If that is "doing its job," all I can hope for is a country unemployed. It will be a whole lot better.

Off-shore is **extremely** important to the US transition because it complements on-shore PV and on-shore wind.