Two articles reflecting the growing ambition of the wind sector and the increasing development of offshore wind technologies which are bringing costs down.

1.  North Sea artificial island for Offshore Wind hub

The harnessing of energy has never been without projects of monolithic scale. From the Hoover Dam to the Three Gorges—the world’s largest power station—engineers the world over have recognised that with size comes advantages. The trend is clear within the wind power industry too, where the tallest wind turbines now tower up to 220m, with rotors spinning through an area greater than that of the London Eye, generating electricity for wind farms that can power whole cities.

FURTHER READING

Get ready for 24-30% reduction in cost of wind power by 2030

While the forecast for offshore wind farms of the future is for ever-larger projects featuring ever-larger wind turbines, an unprecedented plan from electricity grid operators in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark aims to rewrite the rulebook on offshore wind development.

The proposal is relatively straight-forward: build an artificial island in the middle of the North Sea to serve as a cost-saving base of operations for thousands of wind turbines, while at the same time doubling up as a hub that connects the electricity grids of countries bordering the North Sea, including the UK.

Click here to read more.

2.  World’s biggest wind turbines go online near Liverpool – Burbo Bank

UK cements its position as global leader in wind technology as increasing scale drives down costs. The planet’s biggest and most powerful wind turbines have begun generating electricity off the Liverpool coast, cementing Britain’s reputation as a world leader in the technology.

Danish company Dong Energy has just finished installing 32 turbines in Liverpool Bay that are taller than the Gherkin skyscraper, with blades longer than nine London buses. Dong Energy, the windfarm’s developer, believes these machines herald the future for offshore wind power: bigger, better and, most importantly, cheaper. Each of the 195m-tall turbines in the Burbo Bank extension has more than twice the power capacity of those in the neighbouring Burbo Bank windfarm completed a decade ago. “That shows you something about the scale-up of the industry, the scale-up of the technology,” said Benjamin Sykes, the country manager for Dong Energy UK. Click here to read more.