Renewable energies are going to have to make their way in our economy and in the world if we want to maintain a stable temperature and not increase climate change. The advantages of renewable energies are many if we take into account that with a good technological development we can alleviate the efficiency and performance problems that we have encountered so far.
Both wind and solar energy are two types of energy that require space. The creation of an offshore wind farm It has to be analyzed to evaluate the different impacts that it can cause on the marine environment and, thus, see if its construction is profitable and sustainable. What will the wind energy outlook be in the following decades?
Wind energy and wind farms
In 2002 Denmark launched a commercial scale plan for the world's first offshore wind farm. The power generation capacity installed in the park is about 160 megawatts (MW). The creation of wind turbines with larger turbines set the stage so that, by the end of 2015, could generate 13 gigawatts (GW). While most offshore plants are located in Europe, innovation is positioning this technology as one of the world's leading generators in the future.
Thanks to this innovation, IRENA has produced a report on the future prospects of wind energy and estimates that its generation it could be increased from 13 GW to 400 GW by 2045 if it continues to innovate at the current pace and level. This exponential growth is not something that all renewable technologies can achieve.
Offshore wind power generation
The report covers various aspects of offshore wind energy and its benefits. It predicts that offshore wind power will progress well beyond the technologies that are being developed today. In this way, it can become an important component and base of the global energy matrix for the next three decades.
We have to take into account that it is not only energy production, but it is clean and renewable energy. We also have to comment that it is energy that can cause impacts on marine flora and fauna and that it would have to be subjected to an environmental impact assessment.
Technological advances have reduced costs and the expansion of the market driven by wind energy. Onshore, wind has now become cost competitive with other conventional power generation technologies, and more attention is now being paid to offshore applications that can access sites with better high-wind resources.
The European Union has established objectives for the year 2020 that stimulate innovation and industrialization of offshore wind energy. In such a way that offshore wind technology begins to have and gain competitiveness in the markets and against coal and gas. This can achieve that by the year 2030 wind energy reaches 100 GW of installed capacity throughout the planet.
How is offshore wind energy better?
To be able to say that it is more efficient than the terrestrial one, we have to turn to both terrain and space aspects as well as technological aspects. The developments that are marking offshore wind energy as a competitive energy alternative are: the terrain has an improvement in capturing stronger winds and helping to generate more energy. Regarding the technological aspects, we find ourselves with the development of turbines with larger rotors that help to generate even more energy.
As for wind turbines, right now what is on the market are offshore wind turbines with a capacity of 6 MW, with rotor diameters reaching around 150 meters, but it is expected that the evolution of the blade and transmission technology allow the turbines to be larger, even with higher powers. The report foresees the commercialization of 10 MW turbines in the 2020s and that in the 2030s turbines of up to 15 MW can be seen.
With these technological developments, wind energy will become a key part of renewable energy.