Consistent growth will lower cost of offshore wind energy

‘The identified cost reduction potentials are based on the assumption that offshore wind power will be continuously developed and reach a capacity of nine Gigawatt or more by the year 2023. This is the way to gain project experience, to promote technological innovation and to significantly decrease costs,’ said Jens Eckhoff, president of Offshore-Windenergie in a statement. ‘Offshore wind power has a substantial cost reduction potential. However, the industry can only exploit this potential if there are reliable framework conditions to achieve significant market volumes.’

The study was commissioned by the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation, Stiftung Offshore-Windenergie, along with associations and companies including DONG Energy Renewables, Iberdrola Renovables Offshore Deutschland Zwei, and Siemens.

It analysed the expected cost development of electricity generation from offshore wind power until the year 2023. For this purpose, two development scenarios were applied to evaluate three typical German sites for offshore wind farms.

The first scenario assumes a stable market development and describes the development of at least 9GW installed capacity in Germany by the year 2023.