Hugo Putuhena, Fraser Sturt and Susan Gourvenec at the University of Southampton summarise the results of their methodology that determines where to locate the hundreds of thousands more offshore wind turbines the world needs to meet net-zero targets. The world may need as many as 200,000 offshore turbines by 2050, generating 2,000GW. At the end of 2022, 63GW had been installed worldwide, so that means 32 times current capacity. If the “power … [Read more...]
Norway’s Sleipner and Snøhvit CCS: problems expose limitations of the science, regulations and multi-decade commitment
The offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects of Norway’s Sleipner and Snøhvit are often cited as good case studies for the viability of the technology. Other CCS hubs are being proposed from Malaysia to the North Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, larger by factors of 10 or more. But how viable are they? Grant Hauber at IEEFA summarises his in-depth report on the risks. Both Sleipner and Snøhvit, operating since 1996 and 2008 respectively, have … [Read more...]
EU’s 40% domestic Cleantech ambition: same target for Wind (easy) and Solar (hard) doesn’t make sense
The proposed Net Zero Industry Act includes a target for the EU to manufacture domestically at least 40% of its cleantech deployment needs by 2030. That includes the key technologies of solar PV panels, wind turbines (onshore and offshore), EV batteries, heat pumps and hydrogen electrolysers. But it doesn’t make sense to have the same 40% target for all, explain Giovanni Sgaravatti, Simone Tagliapietra and Cecilia Trasi at Bruegel. The main … [Read more...]
How to protect marine mammals from the coming roll-out of Offshore Wind
The EU’s target for offshore wind is an installed capacity of at least 60 GW by 2030, and 300 GW by 2050. It will use the vast potential of the five EU sea basins, in particular the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. But growing awareness and concern over their impact on the marine ecosystem will require new methods of protecting sea life from the consequences. Isla Graham at the University of Aberdeen describes the work of her team on measuring … [Read more...]
What is the potential for offshore wind in the Baltic Sea?
What is the potential for offshore wind in the Baltic Sea? Simon Göss summarises the panel discussion that brought together Marcin Nowacki (President of the European Enterprise Alliance), Dariusz LociĹ„ski (President of the Management Board, PGE Baltica), Pierre Tardieu (Chief Policy Officer at Wind Europe), Ricardo Williams (Policy Officer for Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation at DG ENER, EC) and Pernille Weiss (MEP and ITRE committee … [Read more...]
Event Summary: Building GW-scale Offshore Wind in the Baltic Sea
Here we provide a written summary of the panel discussion “Wind of Change or Change of Wind? The future of Baltic Sea offshore investments” held on 12th September 2022 in Brussels. It’s a full summary of the 90 minute discussion (including audience questions), but it begins conveniently with a summary of the highlights. The Baltic Sea has the potential to develop over 90 GW of offshore wind capacity. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has delivered … [Read more...]
Poland can become a major player in Offshore Wind, says PGE
PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna’s goal is to have at least 6.5 GW of offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea by 2040. The first projects will come online within the next few years. The offshore projects are one of PGE’s key steps towards climate neutrality, and PGE hopes to become a leader in offshore wind in Poland. Here, Wojciech DÄ…browski, PGE’s President of the Management Board, answers questions to explain their strategy, and how it fits into … [Read more...]
China should comfortably meet its 2030 Renewables target. But its emissions?
The long Covid lockdown seems to have had little effect on China’s electricity generation growth. In 2021, total generation increased by about 750 TWh (that’s around 1.3 times Germany's absolute total). Solar PV capacity grew by 53 GW last year (equal to the total installed solar capacity in Germany). Half of all offshore wind turbines installed worldwide in 2021 were off the coast of China: the strong additions were accelerated by the January … [Read more...]
New U.S. Offshore Wind target: from standing start to 30GW by 2030
In March, the Biden administration announced a bold target to deploy 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. Until now, offshore wind’s rise has been driven almost exclusively by Europe and China. The U.S. accounts for just 0.1% of the world’s installed capacity (versus 17% for onshore wind). Why the hold up, given the U.S. could require up to 400GW of offshore wind by 2050? As Stephen Naimoli and Nikos Tsafos at CSIS explain, offshore costs … [Read more...]
What is making Denmark a decarbonisation success? Policy, society, geography
Denmark is proving itself to be a decarbonisation leader, happy to turn its back on its history of oil and gas production and heavy reliance on coal. Its ambitious goal of cutting GHG emissions by 70% by 2030 makes it a global policy frontrunner, second only to Finland which aims to be climate neutral by 2035. Thibault Menu references his report for IFRI that asks what makes Denmark special. It has a long tradition of  providing stability and … [Read more...]
Interview Joe Phillips, DNV GL: “For offshore wind there is only one way forward: together”
“Offshore wind offers great promise but the industry is at a very delicate stage now. We can’t afford to make mistakes in construction that lead to cost overruns,” warns Joe Phillips, Head of Strategy & Policy for Renewables at DNV GL, one of the largest technical energy consultancies in the world. DNV GL has recently issued an “offshore wind cost reduction manifesto” that commits the company to help reduce costs in the sector by 25% and … [Read more...]
