Great expectations for offshore wind turbines: Emulation of wind farm design to anticipate their value for customers

Abstract

To date, the technical feasibility of making electricity from offshore wind energy has been convincingly proven. However, the current challenge is to reduce the costs of this form of energy. One of the aspects playing a role in cost reduction is the optimisation of the wind turbine. The wind turbine influences the costs of various elements of an offshore wind farm, such as the structure on which it will be built, the electrical cabling, the installation, maintenance and, last but not least, the electricity production. The extent of this influence is hard to determine during the design of the wind turbine. In this research a method is developed to assess the effects of a wind turbine on the costs and performance of an offshore wind farm. Core of the method is a software program that automatically designs a wind farm for a turbine for which the user provides the inputs. By varying the inputs, the user can find the turbine design for which the cost of energy would be lowest. The method has been tested with a case study and with industrial users. The case study shows that the method can indeed lead to a better wind turbine design and the test-users confirm the utility of the program. Using the program stimulates further cooperation between the marketing and engineering departments, which may require a different way of working for some companies. The thesis provides a more extensive summary.