The Rise of Offshore Wind Power in Europe

The race to generate energy from renewable sources is on throughout the world as we make an effort to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. While there are several options available to those interested in clean energy, wind and solar are the most widely selected options. Wind turbines are being deployed both on land and water, as the main requirement in deployment is wind that blows everywhere. In fact, offshore wind turbines may prove more beneficial as the wind usually has to face fewer obstacles in open water compared to land.

During 2010, Europe experienced significant growth in offshore wind power capacity. According to the European Wind Energy Association’s (EWEA) 2010 report on wind capacity in Europe, the continent experienced a record 51 percent growth in installed offshore wind capacity in 2010. During the year, 308 new offshore wind turbines costing €2.6 billion were installed in nine wind farms in five countries. These turbines added 883MW of new capacity, making a total of 2,964MW.

United Kingdom is the leader in Europe (and worldwide) with a total installed offshore wind power capacity of 1,341 MW, followed by Denmark with 854 MW.

EWEA says this trend will continue this year, with 1,000MW to 1,500MW of new capacity to be connected to the grid.

France plans on building a total of 600 offshore wind turbines that will have a combined capacity of 3,000MW. These wind turbines will be built on five sites between Saint-Nazaire and Dieppe/Le Tréport at a cost of €10 billion. The project will be announced by President Sarkozy. The total generation capacity equals half of the power the country expects to generate from wind by 2020.

The new wind farms are expected to be ready for generation in 2015. The average cost of each installation is €3.5million per MW, twice the cost of land-based wind turbines.

The department of ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet is pleased with the news. According to the department, the project has given new life to environmental projects. She won an internal cabinet battle with industry minister Eric Besson, who wanted the project scaled back to 2,000MW.

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