Aberdeen, the capital of the offshore oil and gas industry, has spent years searching for a way to make the energy transition in the North Sea to become the world center for offshore wind power.
And it is that they are 50 oil and gas fields from the North Sea that could end their operations due to the price of a barrel. The oil companies are planning to abandon 140 fields in the North Sea for the next few years, according to the consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Europe has increased its offshore wind capacity thanks to the three gigawatts added in 2015, with a large presence of this type of energy in the North Sea. 3.000 marine turbines are operating in northern Europe, for a total of 10 gigawatts. The objective is the inclusion of an annual average of 4 gigawatts until 2030, which would add up to 60 gigawatts total capacity.
If we look at percentages, this type of energy takes the 1,5 percent of total electricity generation of the continent. That figure would rise to 7 percent by 2030 according to WindEurope, an industrial association based in Brussels.
You can talk about many projects such as the Dogger Bank, which will carry 100.00 hectares on the northeast coast of Scotland or the Gemini project on the Holdan coast, with 150 turbines that will get 600 megawatts when completed by the end of the year.
A type of offshore wind energy found as a whole trend and it goes hand in hand with the plans of several European countries that are growing faster than previously thought. The important thing is that these offshore wind farms are being financed by the governments and it is the support in prices that is promoting the installation of many of them.