ASIA WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION LAUNCHED IN SINGAPORE Executives from the wind energy sector have banded together to set up an Asian industry association in Singapore to promote the growth of wind energy in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia Wind Energy Association (AsiaWEA) will coordinate international policy, communications, research and analysis, and will also offer networking and learning opportunities throughout the region, including North-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
“The market is actually growing quite rapidly in the different countries (in Asia) but there’s no one platform where developers, equipment suppliers and financial institutions can come together”, unlike in the US or Europe said Edgare Kerkwijk, one of the association’s founders.
The association will be based in Singapore despite the lack of wind energy in the country as there are many players that have their regional headquarters here. While China has the largest wind sector within the Asia-Pacific, the market there is quite “mature and saturated”, and most of the market opportunities lie in countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Taiwan, he added.
TAIWAN HAS AMBITIOUS PLANS Taiwan plans to invest 684 billion New Taiwan dollars ($22.7bn) as part of the nation’s 8 year plan to boost wind generated electricity to 4,200 megawatts (MW) by 2025. Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has released details of the country’s 8 year green energy development plan, which aims to completely phase out nuclear power plants by 2025. To meet this ambitious goal, Taiwan plans to increase the share of renewables in the nation’s power mix from 4.8 per cent to 20 per cent over the next 8 years. At the same time, the country will decrease reliance on coal power plants from 45.4 per cent in 2016 to 30 per cent by 2025. MOEA will invest a total of $22.7 billion to increase electricity generated from offshore wind farms to 3,000 MW by 2025.
One of the challenges has been how to handle installations in deep water sites. However that now looks set to change with the latest developments surrounding the world’s first floating offshore wind farm in Peterhead, Scotland just going live now.
Hywind by Statoil is a unique offshore wind technology. The concept has been verified through six years of successful operation of a prototype installed off the island of Karmøy in Norway. Hywind with its simplicity in design is competitive towards other floating designs in water depths of more than 100 metres.
Welcoming Statoil’s Hywind development in the Peterhead project, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney says: “Hywind is a hugely exciting project – in terms of electricity generation and technology innovation. The momentum is building around the potential for floating offshore wind technology to unlock deeper water sites”.
Some eye watering statistics on the growth of the European sector
• In 2016 wind was the largest destination for power sector investments. A total of €43bn was raised for the construction of new wind farms, refinancing operations, project acquisitions, and public market fundraising.
• New asset financing for wind power projects reached €27.6bn in 2016 with a record breaking €18.2bn in offshore wind. Onshore wind investments dropped by 5% to €9.4bn, the first decrease in five years. The UK was the biggest market in 2016 with €12.7bn raised for new onshore and offshore projects.
• Europe installed 12.5 GW of gross additional wind capacity in 2016. With a total installed capacity of 153.7 GW, wind energy now overtakes coal as the second largest form of power generation capacity in Europe.
• 12.5 GW of new wind power capacity was installed and grid- connected in the EU during 2016.
• Renewable energy accounted for 86% of all new EU power installations in 2016: 21.1 GW of a total 24.5 GW of new power capacity.
• With almost 300 TWh generated in 2016, wind power covered 10.4 % of the EU’s electricity demand.
• €27.5 billion were invested in 2016 to finance wind energy development.
A quick search on Google reveals some headlines that make for interesting reading and give a glimpse into the magnitude of what we are dealing with:
Record year for Australian renewable energy in 2016 finds new report
Concrete for taller wind turbine towers passes tests and could help expand wind energy sector
World’s first floating offshore wind farm in Scotland set to open up deep water sites
Drop in wind energy costs adds pressure for government rethink
Hundreds of US mayors endorse switch to 100% renewable energy by 2035
Mersey feat: world’s biggest wind turbines go online near Liverpool
You get my gist?
The numbers are gigantic, the sector activity intense and seemingly only likely to grow exponentially. What this means directly for marine surveyors is unclear; but one thing I do know is that the proliferation of offshore wind farms in Europe, North America and soon to be seen in Asia too, means more specialist vessels working at sea to create the installations and to be service and maintain them regularly once the work is complete. This is a sector that an ambitious and entrepreneurial marine surveyor should not neglect.
32 | The Report • September 2017 • Issue 81
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