Just a few decades ago, the concept of harnessing Mother Nature’s mighty forces via “fields” of oceanic wind turbines could have been the inspiration for a sci-fi film. Cut to 30 years later, and the scene is more than merely status quo – it’s a symbol of a sustainable future.
Offshore wind energy has progressed beyond mere symbolism, however. The underlying technology has come leaps and bounds since the first offshore wind farm debuted in the early 1990s. Today, offshore wind powers millions of homes. Around the world, offshore wind now accounts for around 50 GW of energy, and total capacity increased ten-fold between 2010 and 2020. This trajectory looks to continue: in the US, the Biden administration has set an ambitious objective to have 30 GW of offshore wind operational by 2030.
These aims are part of a larger goal to combat the most devastating effects of climate change by curbing global reliance on fossil fuels. The clock is ticking: the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has urged countries to accelerate the build-out of renewable energy in order to meet the Paris Accord goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
To better understand what the future holds for offshore wind, here’s a look at how the concept and technology has evolved.
A brief history of modern wind energy
After the 1970s oil crisis spurred demand for diversified energy sources, researchers and engineers began considering ways to optimize existing, shore-based wind energy systems in the 1980s and early ‘90s. They hoped to expand the technology’s capacity, particularly in areas where land for onshore wind turbines was limited. Offshore wind energy was an obvious solution – made even more promising by the fact that winds tend to be more powerful at sea than on land.
Still, early efforts were plagued by skepticism, both public and professional. “In the late ‘80s, offshore wind was seen as philanthropy,” says Frank Olsen, a mechanical engineer and one of the early innovators of offshore wind technology. “Not many believed it would be able to compete with fossil fuels.”
But despite the doubters, in 1991, Olsen and a team of engineers launched the world’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Vindeby in Denmark. At the time of its installment, the farm had the capacity to power around 2,200 homes.
To reduce the expense of building massive turbines at sea, the Vindeby team settled on a hybrid construction approach: the turbines were assembled on land, then delivered to their seaward stations. The concrete bases were cast and hardened in Onsevig Harbor. A catamaran built to spec for the job delivered the bases one by one to their designated locations. The 11 towering turbines were raised in just as many days.
While these specific machines are no longer in use, their 25 years of service laid the foundation for future projects. After the debut of the farm at Vindeby, other offshore farms followed in Denmark and around the world. In the US, the first offshore wind farm – the Block Island Wind Farm – was erected in 2016.
Looking to the future
Today, wind is the second-largest renewable source of electricity following hydropower. Offshore wind in particular holds great promise for the future of the industry – including, according to some studies, the potential capacity to power nearly every home and business on Earth. A 2019 report by the International Energy Agency found that offshore wind has the potential to generate over 420,000 TWh per year – 18 times the current global electricity demand.
Currently, the UK is the global leader in offshore wind energy, but countries such as China and the US are making strides. “The US is a key growth market that is only just beginning to tap into its full potential,” says David Hardy, the CEO of Ørsted Offshore North America. “I expect the US market to play a significant role, particularly with the Biden administration’s commitment to prioritizing offshore wind energy and the capability to become an exporter of technologies, innovation and supplies to the global industry.”
Ørsted is the company behind that first offshore wind farm in Vindeby. The current market leader, it is responsible for around 25% of the world’s offshore wind power – and hopes to double its wind energy production by 2025. This would provide offshore capacity totaling the annual electricity consumption of 30 million people.
There are advancements on the horizon that could help make Ørsted’s and other energy providers’ goals into realities. Offshore wind energy farms, for example, may soon be able to operate interconnectedly across international borders. Cooperation efforts among grid operators in Denmark, Germany and Belgium are currently underway.
Wind turbines themselves also continue to evolve. The capacity of today’s devices is 17 times that of the initial Vindeby machines, and even more powerful turbines are in development. Innovations like aerodynamic “smart blades” and advanced sensors continue to propel the industry. Improved storage technology and floating offshore wind farms are other developments likely to advance the sector in the coming decade.
Offshore wind technology has made significant strides when it comes to expense, too. In Europe, the cost of offshore energy has fallen by 63% since just 2012. The lifetime costs of new solar, onshore and offshore wind energy generation are already lower than those of newly constructed coal and gas plants in most cases.
With costs continuing to fall, technology scaling, new policies and ambitious governmental as well as corporate commitments in place, offshore wind has come of age. Its development provides an opportunity not just to combat climate change, but also to bolster local communities and ecosystems – unlocking new work opportunities and boosting marine biodiversity, for example.
Building out an offshore wind supply chain in the US has the potential to create tens of thousands of jobs and drive billions of dollars of investment,” says Hardy. “[It] represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create equitable economic opportunity for the entire country.”
Fields of wind turbines at sea have gone from a sci-fi concept to a symbol of hope and optimism. The next phase in the offshore wind story can be one of net-zero emissions energy that delivers broader positive changes – and that blows expectations for the impact of renewables out of the water.