Public Facts About OffShore Wind Power
- Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed.
- Unlike the typical use of the term “offshore” in the marine industry, offshore wind power includes inshore water areas such as lakes, fjords and sheltered coastal areas as well as deeper-water areas.
- Most offshore wind farms employ fixed-foundation wind turbines in relatively shallow water. As of 2020, floating wind turbines for deeper waters were in the early phase of development and deployment.
- The cost of offshore has historically been higher than that of onshore, but costs decreased to $78/MWh in 2019. Offshore wind power in Europe became price-competitive with conventional power sources in 2017. Offshore wind generation grew at over 30 percent per year in the 2010s.
- As of 2020, offshore wind power had become a significant part of northern Europe power generation, though it remained less than 1 percent of overall world electricity generation.
- A big advantage of offshore wind power compared to onshore wind power is the higher capacity factor meaning that an installation of given nameplate capacity will produce more electricity at a site with more consistent and stronger wind which is usually found offshore and only at very few specific points onshore.
Offshore wind has seen a dramatic increase in adoption over the years, but it’s still not as big a piece of the renewable energy puzzle as it could be. So why is that? Why are wind turbines getting bigger and bigger, and what is the major issue that is holding them back? And how does startup Hydro Wind Energy’s offshore wind solution compare? Can it truly solve offshore winds’ biggest issues with cost and intermittency? This Breakthrough Wind Turbine Has a Secret.
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