Melissa Stark: The UK must make offshore wind power competitive

IT IS not unreasonable to say that the eyes of the world will be on Aberdeen next week for the All-Energy conference, as for many the viability of offshore wind as a technology and a clean energy industry will be largely determined by the successes, or failures, in the UK market.

The UK is quickly developing its offshore wind sector with 13 mega projects (ie projects with a capacity exceeding 800 MW) in planning or under construction.

With these mega projects representing 73 per cent of the global total of those planned, a strong government support framework and a 40-year legacy in offshore engineering and operations, the UK has become the undisputed launch pad for the global offshore wind industry.

The stakes are high for this industry: the net outcome will determine whether offshore wind remains a source of niche incremental capacity or becomes a competitive option for large-scale electricity generation at a UK and global level.

But if the UK’s offshore wind industry is to be the “game changer” it promises, a series of important challenges and barriers needs to be overcome.

At the heart of the challenge is the need to make offshore wind competitive with the traditional power-generation technologies. Capital investment costs need to fall by somewhere between 30 and 50 per cent if they are to be on a par with the likes of gas-fired turbines.

Then there are questions over the adequacy of the turbine and vessel supply chains to meet the expected demand, improving the health and safety record, and the challenges of connecting and operating large tranches of intermittent power generation to the UK power grid and system.

If that sounds insurmountable, however, examples Accenture has studied over the past two years show that a more holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities to develop the right capabilities, resources, technologies and finance for the marine environment are evolving.

The question for delegates at All-Energy is how to speed up that evolution.

• Melissa Stark is a senior executive at Accenture and author of the Changing the Scale of Offshore Wind report.