Pathways to bring the costs down of floating offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Area

Abstract

Abstract. Every nations' development lies on the electricity production, since it facilitates life and development of their society (heating, lighting, etc.). Nevertheless, conventional power plants, which use fossil fuels, cause environmental impacts, such as global warming, acidification, eutrophication, among many others. In addition, these conventional resources generate a dependence of external providers, which obstructs the progress of the developing countries. Renewable energies came to solve part of these problems. In this context, wind energy is one the technologies with more expansion all over the world. Offshore locations have a better wind resource than onshore ones and their exploitation is lower. The objective of this work is to present a holistic approach to assess the feasibility of a floating offshore wind farms in a life cycle perspective. The methodology proposed analyses the Net Present Value, the Internal Rate of Return, the Payback Period and the Levelized Cost of Energy of the farm. The case study is built based on a disruptive floating spar-type platform called TELWIND®, to be implemented in the Atlantic Area region. Results indicate how important these parameters are in economic terms and shows the pathways to reduce the costs of this type of infrastructures Furthermore, the methodology proposed allows the selection of the best region where a floating offshore wind farm can be installed. Finally, this study can be useful for Governments and relevant authorities to determine the best location of a floating offshore wind farm and develop the roadmap of offshore wind in their country.