The issue has become so critical that the Carbon Trust believes that without an urgent solution many of these new cost saving innovations won’t be available in time for the major rollout of Round 3 projects, which are expected to deliver up to 18GW of new generating capacity by 2020.

The cost of offshore wind energy is currently around £140 to £150/MWh. With innovation and cost reduction in a number of key areas, such as new foundations, the Carbon Trust has shown that costs can be reduced by up to a third; down to around £100/MWh.  This level of cost reduction won’t happen unless new innovations are properly tested in situ to provide developers and financiers with technical assurance before undertaking major multi-billion pound procurement programmes.

The foundations of an offshore wind farm currently account for about 30 per cent of the typical wind farm costs, so improving their designs and reducing their installation costs can have a material impact on cutting the overall cost of energy generation. The Carbon Trust, through its Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), is backing four new foundation designs. They include the Universal Foundation, which can be installed without piling as it uses a giant suction bucket to bury the steel structure into the seabed, and the Keystone twisted jacket structure, which uses less steel than traditional foundations, thus reducing cost.

Prototypes of the Keystone and Universal Foundation designs have already been installed in UK waters, at the Hornsea and Dogger Bank Round 3 zones in the North Sea. They have been fitted with meteorological masts.  The next important step is to demonstrate the new foundations with state-of-the-art 130 meter high wind turbines on top.  The lack of demonstration sites puts this important next step at risk.