Offshore Renewable Energy

Accelerating the Deployment of Offshore Wind, Tidal, and Wave Technologies

Iea-Retd (Stichting Foundation Renewable

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136493201
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Wave, tidal and offshore wind technologies have long held the promise of seemingly limitless energy supplies. In practice, while offshore wind is growing relatively rapidly, all three sectors have lagged behind expectations. This book, from the International Energy Authority Renewable Energy Technology Deployment implementing agreement (IEA-RETD), examines the reasons for this and suggests how barriers to deployment might be overcome. Beginning with an assessment of the marine energy resource, it provides a detailed introduction to the main technologies currently being employed to harness wind, tidal and offshore wind power. It then examines the types of policies which are used to encourage deployment around the world, and progress towards meeting targets. The economics of offshore energy projects are discussed, along with risks that projects face and the types of finance which are available. A final section turns to barriers - both technical and non-technical (including environmental, health and safety, skill related, supply chain and more) - and in all cases suggests how to mitigate and remove these barriers. Highly illustrated in full colour, this is an indispensable resource for anyone - whether in industry, policy or academia - looking to learn more about how deployment of offshore renewable energy technologies can be encouraged.

1

Introduction

Mott MacDonald (MM) has been appointed by the International Energy Agency’s Implementing Agreement on Renewable Energy Technology Development (IEA–RETD) to support its role of assisting policy-makers and project developers to better understand the specifics of offshore renewable energy and to give them practical guidelines on how to foster its deployment. This book, the deliverable of this appointment, is broken down into four parts:

1  overview of the industry context (Chapters 2 to 4);

2  economics and financing of offshore energy projects (Chapters 5 to 7);

3  technical and non-technical barriers and their mitigation measures (Chapters 8 and 9), as well as guidelines for project development ();

4  summary of findings and conclusions, leading to recommendations and next steps (Chapter 11).

Throughout the book, case studies and examples of existing, as well as planned, offshore renewable energy projects are used to expand upon specific key issues described.

In Appendix E more detailed profiles of the countries are included, discussing the resource assessment, support mechanisms and deployment to date in each of these countries.

1.1 Industry context

Chapters 2 to 4 set out and summarize the industry context. They outline assessment of offshore resources, technology briefs and deployment in selected countries and status of policy development and technology deployment. The aim is to set the scene of the industry and provide a platform for the analysis undertaken in the rest of the book.

The industry context is split into three main chapters:

•  ‘Offshore resource’ (Chapter 2);

•  ‘Offshore renewable energy technologies’ (Chapter 3); and

•  ‘Deployment targets, policies and progress’ (Chapter 4).

The layout is designed to provide an appreciation of the resource potential and justification for allocating resources to exploit it. As such, Chapter 2 provides an overview of global resources, highlighting the potential benefit of exploiting such resources. Chapter 3 then follows by identifying technologies that can be used to utilize such resources, aiming to prove that it is technically feasible to do so. Policies and targets are presented in Chapter 4, setting the regulatory framework for facilitating such projects, followed by an overview of the deployment of the technologies and their success to date.

The study focuses on the experience of 18 countries: 10 RETD countries and 8 other countries of interest. These are listed in Table 1.1. More detailed country profiles discussing the resource assessment, support mechanisms and deployment to date for each of these countries are presented in Appendix E.

Table 1.1: Countries covered by the study

1.2 Economics and financing of offshore energy projects

Chapters 5 to 7 aim to improve policy-maker understanding of the cost structure of offshore renewable energy projects. They cover the following topics:

•  ‘Economics of offshore energy projects’ (Chapter 5);

•  ‘Project risks and related project costs’ (Chapter 6); and

•  ‘Financing of offshore renewable energy projects’ (Chapter 7).

Chapter 5 introduces the concept of technology maturity and technology readiness levels (TRLs) and goes on to compare the capital expenditure (CAPEX), operational expenditure (OPEX) and cost of energy of the different technologies, including the cost structures and drivers and variations by country. Chapter 6 considers how project risk assessment affects the economics of projects, while Chapter 7 looks at financing options, including balance sheet finance and project finance.

1.3 Technical and non-technical barriers and their mitigation measures

Chapters 8 and 9 aim to improve policy-makers’ and project developers’ understanding of the various technical and non-technical barriers and challenges faced by offshore renewable energy projects and how these affect the overall cost structure and development timescales. For each type of barrier, the book goes on to describe how policies and other measures can be developed and implemented to remove, reduce and overcome the challenges faced. Based on the findings of the previous sections, provides a set of guidelines for the development of offshore renewable energy projects.

Chapter 8 analyses non-technical barriers and their mitigation measures. This includes those common to all offshore renewable energy technologies and those specific to offshore wind and to wave and tidal separately. Grid connection barriers are also considered in depth. Chapter 9 focuses on the main types of non-technical barriers – namely, environmental; health and safety; regulatory and permitting; competing use; skills availability; supply chain and infrastructure, and access to capital and financial support mechanisms. Barriers can differ from country to country and from one technology to another. The book describes general and, where applicable, country- and technology-specific barriers.

1.4 Findings, conclusions, recommendations and next steps

Chapter 11 summarizes the findings and conclusions, leading to the recommendations and next steps. A clear policy framework can play a vital role in securing investment in offshore development and, over time, help to support innovation, a competitive environment and reducing costs. The recommendations therefore include a model policy framework.

2

Offshore Resource

2.1 Introduction

This chapter provides a summary of the mechanics of wind, wave and tidal energy and an outlook of the world offshore energy potential. The chapter includes a table of the offshore resources for each of the countries covered by the study.

2.2 Resource assessment

Resource assessments are based on measurement data and assumptions. Commonly, four categories are referred to and are differentiated as follows:

1 Theoretical potential determines the entire energy resource physically available.

2 Technical potential determines the maximum amount of energy that can be captured using the technical means available.

3 Practical potential additionally takes into account external constraints (e.g. competing use of land and sea surface or environmental sensitivity).

4 Economic potential considers, in addition to technical limits and external constraints, economic drawbacks.

2.3 World distribution of offshore resources

2.3.1 Offshore wind energy

Wind is a directly derived form of solar energy. Solar radiation on the Earth’s surface results in the warming of the atmosphere, water and land masses. Temperature differences occur due to the varied surface structures of the Earth, day and night cycle, and abundance of solar irradiance near the Equator compared to the poles. These temperature differences result in pressure differences and set the air masses into motion. Additionally, the Earth’s rotation contributes to the turbulence of the air mass.

Wind energy is a function of four factors:

1 density of the air passing through the rotor, ρ;

2 wind speed, v;

3 swept area, A; and

4 power coefficient, cp (i.e. t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Offshore Resource
• 3. Offshore Renewable Energy Technologies
• 4. Deployment Targets, Policies and Progress
• 5. Economics of Offshore Energy Projects
• 6. Project Risks and Related Project Costs
• 7. Financing of Offshore Renewable Energy Projects
• 8. Technical Barriers and Mitigation Measures
• 9. Non-Technical Barriers and Mitigation Measures
• 10. Guidelines for Project Development
• 11. Findings, Recommendations and Model Policy Framework
• Appendix A. References
• Appendix B. List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Appendix C. Assumptions Underlying the Sensitivity Analysis
• Appendix D. Exchange Rates
• Appendix E. Country Profiles
• Index