Abstract
This paper establishes a general methodology to calculate the life-cycle cost of floating offshore renewable energy devices, applying it to wave energy and wind energy devices. It is accounts for the contributions of the six main phases of their life-cycle: concept definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, exploitation and dismantling, the costs of which have been defined. Moreover, the energy produced is also taken into account to calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy of a floating offshore renewable energy farm. The methodology proposed has been applied to two renewable energy devices: a floating offshore wave energy device and a floating offshore wind energy device. Two locations have been considered: Aguçadoura and São Pedro de Moel, both in Portugal. Results indicate that the most important cost in terms of the life-cycle of a floating offshore renewable energy farm is the exploitation cost, followed by the manufacturing and the installation cost. In addition, the best area in terms of costs is the same independently of the type of floating offshore renewable energy considered: Aguçadoura. However, the results in terms of Levelized Cost of Energy are different: Aguçadoura is better when considering wave energy technology and the São Pedro de Moel region is the best option when considering floating wind energy technology. The method proposed aims to give a direct approach to calculate the main life-cycle cost of a floating offshore renewable energy farm. It helps to assess its feasibility and evaluating the relevant characteristics that influence it the most.
Highlights
The demand for energy on a global scale is likely to increase in the coming years [1]
This paper presents a general methodology to calculate the life-cycle cost of a floating offshore renewable energy farm
The scenarios can be aggregated into two cases: Case 1, which is focused on floating offshore wave energy devices (FOWaED) and Case 2, which is focused on floating offshore wind energy devices (FOWiED) (Figure 4)
Summary
The demand for energy on a global scale is likely to increase in the coming years [1]. There are additional benefits such as reduced CO2 emissions, which have been a concern for countries throughout the world Examples of this are the Kyoto Protocol on CO2 emissions reduction or the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament [2] which targets for the use of renewable sources of energy within the European Union. The methodology proposed here is used to assess the total life-cycle cost and LCOE for each case. Data required was such as to define the parameters of the method, with accuracy as high as reasonably possible given the resources available. Great effort was made to maximize the resemblances with current reality
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