Technological advances may make deep offshore wind farms financially viable by 2020, a University study has concluded.
A complex generating up to 350 megawatts (MW) would now cost €1.5 billion – or 24 cents per unit – considerably higher than fossil-fuelled energy, which ranges between 16 cents and 19 cents for normal domestic users.
However, rapid advances in wind technology may result in greater turbine efficiency and lower capital expenditure.
The wind farm in the study consisted of 70 turbines, each having a capacity to generate 5MW
The study suggests that by 2020, the cost of a single unit of electricity might go down to 17 cents – equivalent to a drop of up to 40 per cent in the capital expenditure.
The study, carried out under the supervision of Tonio Sant, was funded by the Malta Council of Science and Technology’s National Research and Innovation Programme launched in 2009. Speaking yesterday afternoon during a detailed technical exposition at the MCST headquarters in Villa Bighi, Prof. Sant said such studies were important so the groundwork would be ready by the time the technology became financially viable.
The objective of the project was to review the present technology, design a novel, bottom-mounted structure, and carry out a preliminary feasibility study.
The research was based on an area of 55 square kilometres in the southeast of Malta where the sea’s depth varies between 60 and 70 metres. The wind farm in the study consisted of 70 turbines, each having a capacity to generate 5MW. Prof. Sant said that the average lifetime of a wind farm is roughly 20 years.
While acknowledging that deep water technology posed greater challenges than the one used in the North Sea where there were shallow waters, the Mediterranean climate was less taxing on the farm’s infrastructure, Prof. Sant said. This meant that wind turbines need not be designed to resist high wind speeds like those prevalent in northern countries.
As an EU member state, Malta is bound to produce 10 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
In a short address to the media, Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Buontempo announced that European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn will be visiting Malta to launch the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme.
This programme will be the EU’s financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion budget, the EU’s new programme for research and innovation is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe.