For some countries, the development of floating offshore wind power has become a necessary option to achieve carbon neutrality. In March 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy released a strategy for the adoption of offshore wind power. The goal is to increase offshore wind capacity from tens of thousands of kilowatts today to 110 gigawatts by 2050. In 2022, wind power in the United States will contribute 10 percent of total electricity generation. Offshore wind in the United States is a late starter, and its global share of wind power is 20 percent, compared with 27 percent in Europe.
The key to bringing back a city is that floating offshore wind power, which has not yet been commercialized on a large scale, is being popularized around the world by implantable wind turbines fixed on the seabed. This is suitable for shallow waters and is difficult to apply in waters deeper than 50 meters. In order to introduce large amounts of wind power, floating systems that allow power generation equipment to float on the sea are essential.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory statistics, the introduction space of floating wind turbines in the United States is 2.8 billion kilowatts, which is nearly twice that of implantation. Us Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stressed that this is the most potential energy source.
The Biden administration will push the cost of floating wind power down to 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2035, 70 percent lower than today, by advancing large-scale development. The United States plans to make wind power a major source of electricity that is more price competitive than thermal power, and actively develop related industries.
According to the Canadian research firm Priority, the global floating wind power market will reach about $69.8 billion by 2030. Having regained its status as a resource power through the shale gas revolution, the US is seeking to do the same again with renewable energy.
Europe is at the forefront of the field of offshore wind power and is stepping up its practical application. Scotland has unveiled plans for the world's largest floating wind power development. It plans to develop offshore wind power with an installed capacity of 28 million kilowatts in about 8,000 square kilometers of sea area, of which about 60% will be floating wind turbines.
Europe has taken the lead since the 2010s through implantable wind power. Vestas Wind Technologies of Denmark and Siemens-Gamesa of Germany account for 20% of the world's renewable energy.
In the field of implanted wind power in Europe, the cost of less than 10 yen per kilowatt-hour (about 0.07 US dollars) of bids continue to appear, and the cost competitiveness is no less than that of thermal power. The world's largest offshore wind power producer, Denmark's Wojsch Energy, is involved in a floating wind power project in Scotland. The price competitiveness of floating wind power is also expected to improve.
Japan has also begun to promote floating wind power development. On the coast of the five islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, Toda Construction Company as the main body began to promote the construction of floating wind turbines. Although small in scale, it is the first of its kind in Japan. The company will test whether floating wind turbines can withstand the impact of huge typhoons.
Toda Construction will also cooperate with Osaka University, which is known for its research on floating structures at sea. By 2025, an empirical experiment of a 10,000-kilowatt floating wind turbine may be carried out. The system is more resilient to natural disasters and is the largest in the world.
Europe and the United States, which are competing to develop floating wind power, are also focusing on the Asian market. If the huge market can be captured, it can form a new export industry that can operate globally, and the direction of the floating wind power battle could rewrite the industrial order. Editor/Xu Shengpeng
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