The Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) is the Carbon
Trust's flagship collaborative RD&D programme. Set up in 2008,
the OWA brings together eight offshore wind developers to
work towards reducing the cost of offshore wind by 10%. Cost
reduction is achieved through innovation - technology challenges
are identified and prioritised, and projects carried out to address
these challenges. Innovation is delivered using competitions and by
running focused tenders. The most promising ideas are developed and
commercialised through demonstration projects, working closely with
the supply chain throughout the process.
The OWA model brings together Carbon Trust's expertise
in delivering innovation and convening industry consortiums with
the industrial partners' technical knowledge and resources.
The OWA is two-thirds funded by industry, one-third
funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
The case for offshore wind
The Carbon Trust believes mass deployment of offshore wind is
critical to bridge the UK's energy gap and to meet the UK's targets
for security of supply, carbon reduction and renewable energy. To
meet the EU's 15% renewable energy target for the UK, as much as
40% of electricity must come from renewables in 2020. In 2008, the
figure was just 5%, so an eight-fold increase is required. Offshore
wind is the only technology that can be deployed at sufficient
scale to achieve this, and has the potential to supply as much as
25% of the UK's electricity by 2020. The Offshore Wind Accelerator
was set up to drive down costs and accelerate deployment.
The challenge
Since 2003 some 500 offshore wind turbines have been
built, 180 of these were installed in 2010. They currently deliver
just over 1.5GW, whereas the estimated capacity of development
licences awarded by The Crown Estate in Round 3 is 33GW, which
is equivalent to 5,500 turbines (assuming an average size of 6MW).
The new turbines will be bigger and more complicated to
install, standing in up to 60m of water, in some cases more than
200km from shore.
Structures will be taller than 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin)
with the turbine rotor diameter being larger than the London Eye.
These power plants will be installed in large arrays, far offshore
in harsh environments. For example Dogger Bank is 3,343 square
miles, which is similar to the size of North Yorkshire and 125 to
290 kilometers (77 to 180 miles) from shore. To meet this
challenge, the Carbon Trust is calling on the best minds in
the business to apply their knowledge and skills to make offshore
wind a viable commercial solution to help meet the targets for
renewable energy.
Where are we now?
Since 2003, nearly 500 turbines have been installed close
to shore in depths typically less than 20m. They currently
deliver just over 1.5GW of electricity.
Round 3
In January 2010, The Crown Estate awarded licences to develop
offshore wind in nine Round 3 zones in seas around the
UK, from the Moray Firth to the Irish Sea. The Offshore Wind
Accelerator (OWA) is focussed on overcoming the complexities of
constructing and running wind farms in these tough marine
conditions.
Our Partners
We are co-funding the Offshore Wind Accelerator in collaboration
with eight international energy companies. Our Partners in the
Offshore Wind Accelerator are:
- DONG Energy, leading Danish offshore wind farm developer with
over 20 years' experience.
- EON, Germany's largest utility
- Mainstream Renewable Power, founded by Dr. Eddie O'Connor and
Fintan Whelan, the former CEO and CFO of Airtricity
- RWE Innogy, Europe-wide renewables business of the German RWE
group.
- Scottish Power Renewables, UK's largest onshore wind farm
developer.
- SSE Renewables (formerly Airtricity), the renewable energy
development division of Scottish and Southern Energy.
- Statkraft, the Norwegian state owned utility
- Statoil, Norwegian international energy company.
The solution
The OWA research and development programme is focusing
on four areas:
- Developing new turbine foundations and installation
techniques.
- Facilitating access to distant turbines for maintenance.
- Finding the best wind farm array layouts to optimise
yield.
- Researching ways to reduce electricity transmission
losses.
These research areas were chosen as they represented the
greatest potential for reducing the total cost of constructing,
operating, and financing large offshore wind farms.
The goals
Offshore wind in the UK has the potential to deliver:
- A 7% reduction in UK carbon emissions versus 1990.
- A quarter of a million UK jobs by 2050.
- Annual revenues of some £19 billion by 2050.
The Offshore Wind Accelerator seeks to accelerate the deployment
of offshore wind in the UK by reducing the cost of energy.
Progress so far
Stage 1 of the OWA started in October 2008 with 5
Partners. This stage of the OWA primarily consisted of
research and development type activities (through contract research
procurement).
At the conclusion of stage 1 (June 2010), the Carbon Trust gave
a presentation at the Renewable UK conference in Liverpool which
summarised the outputs of the programme so far. Download
the presentation (PDF, 1MB).
Stage 2 of the OWA saw the addition
of 3 new Partners, with implementation of the first project
beginning in March 2011. This Stage focuses on taking the most
promising concepts from Stage 1 and demonstrating their feasibility
on test sites. View further information
on the Aid Scheme under which the Carbon Trust
provides Grant funding under Stage 2 (PDF, 194kB).
Structure
The OWA is structured around the four research
areas described above. Each area is directed by a Technical
Working Group (TWG) which comprises of relevant experts from the
partner organisations. A Technical Delivery Consultant (TDC), which
is an engineering consultancy with expertise in the research
area, carries out the projects within the research area.
Innovators and designers are managed by the TDC.
A Steering Committee oversees the strategic direction of
all four areas of the work. This structure is represented in the
diagram below.
Contact
For more information on the Offshore Wind Accelerator,
please contact Jan
Matthiesen