Abstract
The goal of this work is to carry out an economic analysis of a novel floating offshore wind structure, of which the main material is concrete: the SATH® platform. It takes a step forward in floating marine wind energy research, in which traditional platforms are mainly composed of steel. The technique to calculate the costs of the platform and the economic parameters to decide if the farm is economically feasible are explained in the paper. This case study analyzes a possible farm of 500 MW located in Portugal and several scenarios considering different electric tariffs and capital costs (Scenario 1: electric tariff of 50 €/MWh and 6% of capital cost; Scenario 2: electric tariff of 50 €/MWh and 8% of capital cost; Scenario 3: electric tariff of 150 €/MWh and 6% of capital cost; Scenario 4: electric tariff of 150 €/MWh and 8% of capital cost). Results show the economic feasibility of a farm with the characteristics of Scenarios 3 and 4. This work is significant in order to provide a new approach to analyzing traditional floating offshore wind structures, which can represent a path towards the future of floating offshore renewable energy technologies.
Highlights
Due to the limits in fossil fuel reserves and the environmental problems caused by their combustion (since these are primarily responsible for greenhouse gases (GHG) [1,2]), numerous countries have made energy transition policies that highlight the need for less-polluting alternative energies, such as renewable energy.In the Paris agreement [1], it was established as a priority objective to achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases compared to 1990 and to increase to 80% in 2050 [3]
The floating offshore wind platforms analyzed in previous studies consider concepts built on steel
Results for a 500 MW floating offshore wind farm located in Figueira da Foz (Portugal) and composed of 50 SATH® platforms are: 1.2% for the C1, 0.3% for the C2, 42.3% for the C3, 2.9% for the C4, 51.5% for C5 and 1.8% for C6
Summary
Due to the limits in fossil fuel reserves and the environmental problems caused by their combustion (since these are primarily responsible for greenhouse gases (GHG) [1,2]), numerous countries have made energy transition policies that highlight the need for less-polluting alternative energies, such as renewable energy. In the Paris agreement [1], it was established as a priority objective to achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases compared to 1990 and to increase to 80% in 2050 [3]. During the last few years, the European Union has developed significant methods to increase electricity generation using renewable resources. The fraction of renewable energies in the final electrical consumption increased from 8.5% in 2004 to 17% in 2016 [4].
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