Bright future for offshore wind


Ernst van Zuilen, director of TKI Wind op Zee (Top consortium for Knowledge and Innovation Offshore Wind), gives his view about the future of offshore wind and on the cooperation with MARIN. Erik-Jan de Ridder, e.d.ridder@marin.nl


TKI Wind op Zee is part of the Dutch ‘top- sector’ policy: a government initiative that targets the future development of successful industry sectors through research and de- velopment in cooperation with universities, knowledge institutes and the industry.


In the ‘offshore wind green deal’ in 2011, confirmed and made concrete in the Energy Agreement (2013), the Dutch government and market participants agreed upon a 40% cost reduction target by 2020, Mr van Zuilen explains.


Based on information from the latest offshore wind projects, cost reductions up to 46% are expected to be possible by 2020. Part of this cost reduction is realised by larger, more powerful wind turbines of 6-8MW, in combination with the use of monopile foundations rather than using the more expensive jackets, he says.


One of the Visions of the Dutch government for future energy production 2015 until 2050. Courtesy IABR.


“The knowledge developed in the MARIN JIP ‘WIFI I and II’ in the field of wave loading on offshore wind turbines has certainly contributed to this development, as the outcome of the JIP is an improved design method for determining the (extreme) wave load forces on the turbine foundation.”


Another area is reduced installation time. In 2010, it took almost twice as long to install an offshore wind turbine as it does now, he points out. “Here, MARIN’s Wind Jack JIP hel ped in this matter by improving knowl- edge about the touchdown part of the legs


of a jack-up vessel - one of the critical aspects during the installation procedure.” “A combination of these cost reduction measures; the huge potential, the possible role of Dutch industry and the Paris climate deal, has meant that the Dutch government sees offshore wind as the future power- house resource for north-west Europe.” One of the visions is that by 2050 a large part of north- west Europe’s energy needs will be delivered by fixed and floating offshore wind farms in the North Sea1


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However, as this part of the North Sea is one of the busiest shipping areas in the world, there are still several challenges to overcome in the next decades to ensure safe operations at sea can be combined with these ambitious wind energy targets, Mr van Zuilen stresses.


1. The project ‘2050 - An Energetic Odyssey’ was developed by the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) (seventh edition), IABR–2016–THE NEXT ECONOMY.


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