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🌟 Our Chair, Henrik O. Madsen, will be presenting on Friday, September 20th, in the seminar honouring professors Faltinsen and Moan in Trondheim. Henrik will talk about his experience in the Floating Wind and the lessons learned through numerical and experimental tests during the development of our technology. For those of us who have not studied at NTNU but have learned from and rely daily on Professors Faltinsen and Moan textbooks 📚 , this is an event we feel attached to. Their work continues to influence and shape our understanding of maritime and offshore technology. 🌊 #CrownFW #IndustrializingFloatingWind 
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 Floating wind technology is often hailed as a game-changer in renewable energy, with its potential seemingly as vast as the oceans it harnesses. The scale of offshore wind resources far exceeds global electricity demand, making floating wind a crucial player in the future energy mix. With such inherent capacity, the question becomes: can it compete on cost?
The benefits of floating wind are clear. Offshore winds are stronger and more consistent, leading to higher capacity factors and a more stable power supply to the grid. This stability adds much-needed flexibility to our energy systems. But the power distribution of floating wind is comparable to that of bottom-fixed offshore wind, which currently holds a cost advantage and a significant track record. As a result, today bottom-fixed offshore wind remains the dominant force. It is the go-to solution wherever the seabed allows. The typical cost of bottom-fixed offshore wind foundations (including offshore installation) ranges from €0.8 million (bottom threshold) to €2.0 million per MW (top threshold), depending on factors like project size, depth, and soil conditions. Meanwhile, floating wind is today more expensive, with costs typically considered slightly above €2 million per MW for “the Marine Side” (floater, mooring system and marine operations). This results in a CAPEX increase of about 30% to project costs compared to a similar bottom-fixed farm. Industry reports typically use this figure to assess the expected cost of installations, and with it the total capacity to be deployed. For instance, DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook (2023 version) mentions an average LCOE in 2050 of $51/MWh for bottom-fixed, and approximately $67/MWh for floating, a 31% higher cost. With this cost reference, DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook predicts that by 2050 bottom-fixed installations will outnumber floating wind by a factor of 9:2 (from today’s ~300:1). The message is clear: without competitive costs, floating wind will be confined to regions where bottom-fixed solutions aren’t feasible. At Brezo, we work to drive the costs of floating wind down. Our innovative foundation approach is based on CROWN FW®, a simple structure that follows a design-for-manufacturing and design-for-logistics philosophy. We believe that large floating wind projects can get close to the lower cost thresholds of bottom-fixed solutions. Our calculations suggest that the additional cost associated with floating wind will be significantly reduced, and in some markets be gone altogether. Imagine the impact of this cost parity. If floating wind can match the costs of bottom-fixed offshore wind, it’s time to rethink how we integrate these technologies into our global energy mix. The 9:2 ratio can be greatly shrunk. The future of energy isn’t just about the resources we have—it's about how smartly we can harness them. It is not about whether we will see floating or bottom-fix foundations installed in 60-80 m deep areas, a depth where neither will be in the low-cost threshold, but about finding sites that make the best of each. And floating wind has a lot to offer in that future. |
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October 2024
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