1B4 UpScaling
Introduction
Cost analysis of offshore wind energy is dominated by "economy of
scale". An increase of the turbine size reduces the cost of energy
as the relative costs of the offshore operations reduce.
Objectives
The objective of this WP will be to identify major technological
and economic barriers associated with the development of future
wind turbine technology, which is based on up scaling of present
day, conventional configurations. By development and use of scaling
trends supported by experienced engineering judgment, the work will
involve the dimensioning and cost analysis of a very large wind
turbine design of 20MW rating. A critical assessment of the upscale
design will be undertaken in order to determine the engineering
feasibility, cost implications, investment risks and overall
fundamental barriers, as concerns technology, design tools and
concept, which might prevent such large scale wind turbines.
Activities
Based on a systematic analysis of the growth in the scale of wind
turbines over the last two decades, this task will involve the
development of scaling trends to characterize key design parameters
as a function of turbine size. Such parameters will include the
mass, capacity and cost of major components as well as the complete
turbine system, cost per rated kW, cost per rotor swept area etc.
The scaling trends will be used to outline a 20 MW design. An
evaluation of this design may reveal barriers. These barriers may
be related to the cost of energy, the manufacturing process, the
installation process, the structural integrity, etc. An iterative
procedure is foreseen in which new designs will be proposed to cope
with the barriers.
Result
The final resulting of the WP1B4 work package will describe the up
scaling and identification of major barriers, including an outline
design and a cost analysis of a 20 MW wind turbine. The technical
and fundamental barriers affecting the development of very large
wind turbines will be identified and the developments needed to
overcome these barriers will be formulated.
Leaflet
Contact details
Ing. L.G.J. Janssen
Energy Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
P.O. Box 1
1755 ZG Petten
The Netherlands
Tel: +31/224 56 4115
[email protected]