EA-O16-T2 1

Alternative Energies
ASE II
UNIVERSIDAD IBEROAMERICANA

Wind Power in Offshore Locations

Fernandez, Santiago; Nuez Antia; Pedraza Sofia; Saldaa Daniel

Abstract Wind energy has long been sold as a (EIA, 2016). Also the amount of electricity generated
clean, renewable, and bountiful alternative to fossil from wind is expected to continue to grow. The U.S.
fuels. So far this type of energy was limited to Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that
onshore wind farms but in the last decades energy wind power generation will increase by an average of
experts started to establish wind farms on the ocean. 2.4% a year through 2040.
This is due to the incredible amount of space
available out there and the constant wind that some
of these places can offer. Nevertheless the investment
and technology that these types of farms require is
quite high. In this paper, is reported the comparison
between onshore and offshore turbines with the last
ones being able to be a fixed monopole or a floating
platform. In each case the analysis covers different
aspects such as economic factors, environmental
effects, wind speed, space required and energy
transportation.

Index Terms
Offshore - situated at sea some distance from the
shore, onshore - situated or occurring on land.

I. INTRODUCTION
Figure 1, Graph of the Electricity Generation by Fuel Type.

Wind Power has gained a lot of attention in the past
decade worldwide. This is due to the fact that in the past
few years it has become one of the cleanest and more
affordable energies of all the renewable ones. This is due
to economies of scale that have been growing in the last
decade making it more affordable and cheap each and
every year. Other factor is the fact that in Europe there is
a 'climate-energy legislative package' that sets
mandatory national target corresponding to a 20 % share
of renewable energies in overall community energy
consumption by 2020 and a mandatory 10 % minimum
target to be achieved by all Member States for the share
of renewable energy in transport consumption by 2020.
When talking about wind energy there can be of two
types, onshore wind turbines or offshore wind turbines.
The purpose of this paper is to compare the advantages
and disadvantages of both types of turbines to determine
which one is more attractive to invest in and more
reliable when talking about wind power. Here is a brief
explanation of each one:
Before turning to the XXI century virtually all electricity
generated from wind power came from onshore wind
farms. Wind turbines are the component in a wind power
plant that generates electricity, and thus the most
important component when it comes to energy
generation. As technology advanced through the years so
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did the power to generate bigger and more efficient
turbines, that could not be installed in land due to size.
Onshore wind turbines are optimized at low-speed
winds, as will be explained later on, this makes that
subtle changes in wind speed and direction result in
great losses of energy. And even though new turbines
are able to rotate slightly or change the pitch of their
blades to decrease the losses in energy, alternatives had
to be found in order to avoid these problems. (Anderson,
2013)
The answer to these problems was offshore wind farms.
Starting with wind speed, and as will be explained with
more detail later on, turbines are specialized for higher
wind speeds, providing more power to the grid when
needed. This can reduce the number of back-up plants
needed to provide energy when power is not generated
by the wind. Another problem that arises with onshore
wind farms, specially onshore is that people do not like
the way they change the landscape. With offshore farms
this problem can be partially eradicated since the farms
are offshore and not visible from land. Because most big
cities are near the coast offshore wind farms could be the
solution to provide these cities with clean energy.
(Anderson, 2013)
Onshore and offshore wind turbines are mostly the same
when looked at, not taking into consideration the
optimum wind speed of the turbines, however the design
of offshore turbines has to be modified in order to resist
to the extreme weather. Due to the high salinity of the
air and the fact that the structure is in contact with
seawater makes It necessary for the turbines to have
corrosion protection, internal climate control, high-grade
exterior paint and built in service cranes. (Sun Xiaojing,
2012).
Current wind turbines, either onshore or offshore have a
range in capacity between 1.5MW and 5MW, however
the efficiency of the turbine is directly impacted by the
velocity of the wind, and since wind currents are more
constant in the sea offshore wind turbines are more
efficient than onshore. The size of a wind turbine that is
to be placed in an onshore wind farm is often restricted
by land space constraints on transportation of its
components and substructure (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) .
Offshore wind turbines, on the other hand, do not have
this restrictions, thus allowing the turbines to have large
rotors, varying from 65 to 135 m, in order to take the
most advantage of higher wind speeds and extract as
much energy as possible from a wind farm. (Sun
Xiaojing, 2012) Apart from this fact prices of
substructure, installation, operation and management,
and the grid and electrical infrastructure have been
shown to decrease with the increase of size in the
turbines, thus making larger capacity wind turbines a
path to follow. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
2
Offshore wind around the globe
In order to look at offshore wind power we must look at
Europe. Ever since the first offshore wind turbine was
installed in 1990, in Sweden. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
Europe has been the area that has grown to have the
most installed offshore wind farms in the world, even
though the Chinese are picking up the pace with projects
to develop or build new wind farms, they do not have the
technology as enhanced as the Europeans do. As of 30
June 2011, 1,247 offshore wind turbines have been fully
grid connected in Europe with a total capacity of 3,294
MW in 49 wind farms (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
II. WIND POWER PRINCIPLE
The suns radiation warms the earth and with the
radiation, the rays of light from the sun hit molecules of
air transferring its energy making the molecules to move
faster. When the molecules increase its velocity they
move upward transferring the denser air downwards. In
this way heat energy from the sun is transferred into
kinetic energy to the wind. It is our job as scientists to
maximize the energy that is converted from the
movement of the wind into electrical energy. Wind
turbines seek to extract the kinetic energy from the wind
and convert it into electrical energy. Moving air particles
hit the turbine blades, transferring their kinetic energy to
the circular motion of the blades. The moving blades
move a turbine that produces electricity, which then is
transported into a grid. There is however, a limit on how
much energy a turbine can extract from the wind. If the
turbine extracts all the energy from the wind the particles
of air will stay stationary near the blades. Returning
some energy into the wind with the movement of the
blades. The Betz law describes this situation and says
that modern wind turbines can achieve peaks between
75% to 80%.
Betz limit and Power Coefficient equations
Power extracted by the turbine
!
P! = A V ! Cp
!
Power coefficient
!!
Cp =
!!
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Where:
P! =Power extracted by the turbine
= Air density
V = velocity
A=Rotor swept area
Cp = Power coefficient
Pw= Power contained in the wind
For nearly the entire history of wind power, all the wind
turbines have been placed on farms, on grassy plains or
desert surfaces. In 1991 Denmarks Vinde by wind
facility was the first operational offshore wind farm.
Offshore wind farm started to be popular in the early
2000s. Nowadays the majority of offshore wind
capacity is on the coast of the United Kingdom, and on
the coast of the North Sea. Offshore wind energy has
historically been very expensive, but it is starting to be
seen, that the offshore wind has the potential to be more
affordable than onshore farms.
III. PROS AND CONS OF OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY
Like everything, wind turbines have some advantages
and disadvantages.
Advantages
1. They produce green energy. This means that
benefiting from the wind in order to produce energy,
does not pollute the environment. Offshore wind
turbines produce more energy due to the higher wind
speed found in the sea.
2. They have an enormous potential: studies have
shown that the worldwide potential of wind power is
more than four hundred TW. If the sea is so big,
there is a major possibility of increasing that
potential due to all the space available for turbines to
be erected.
3. They work with a renewable source: wind is
naturally occurring, and as long as the sun keeps
shining, we will be able to harness wind energy.
4. They are space-efficient: wind turbines cannot be
placed too close to each other, but the land in-
between can be used for other things. When talking
about offshore wind turbines, this is definitely not a
problem, as we know that there is plenty of space in
the sea.
5. Energy produced by offshore turbines has a rapid
growth: as of today, wind energy accounts for only
the 2.5% of the production while it is estimated to
grow at a rate of 25% each year. This is because of
the great potential seen in offshore wind turbines.
3
6. Prices are decreasing: they have decreased over 80%
and are forecasted to continue decreasing. Although
offshore wind energy has a higher cost than onshore
energy, these prices are forecasted to keep
decreasing with time.
7. Low operational costs: costs tend to be low once the
turbines have been manufactured and erected
Disadvantages
1. Wind is Unpredictable: wind is hard to predict, in
spite of the advanced technology available
nowadays, it is difficult to know the quantity of
wind that will be able in a month. The problem is
that alternative energies are sold in advance, so a
forecast is needed in order to do that, but with the
wind being so unpredictable, there can be mistakes.
2. Intermittent wind: although in offshore the wind is
more constant, there is not always wind to depend
on for energy, this is a problem that makes this kind
of energy a little unreliable.
3. Costs: its cost-competitiveness is highly debatable,
it is required a a heavy upfront investment for the
manufacturing and installation of turbines. In
offshore, this investment is higher due to the
difficulty and conditions of being in the sea.
4. Turbines are a threat to wildlife; migration of birds
and bats can be affected by wind turbines, mostly
because of the risk of hitting one.
5. Turbines are Noisy: Noise is a problem for some
people that live in the proximity of wind turbines. In
offshore, this problem is eliminated because the
noise is not that loud to reach the coastal cities.
6. Aesthetics: While most people actually like how
wind turbines look, there is always some who do
not.
IV. WIND SPEED
Onshore wind speed
Before Offshore Wind started to gain popularity,
onshore wind farms generated all the wind power.
Onshore wind farms are cheaper and require less
infrastructure and specialized technology. However,
wind turbine is optimized for a specific wind velocity.
When the winds velocity varies from the ideal velocity
it becomes less efficient. Mainly onshore wind turbines
are optimized for the low-speed winds, when high
velocity winds blow in the region of the farms,
sometimes it is more cost effective to shut them down to
minimize risk of damage. The same happens when the
wind changes direction. New turbines can rotate so the
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blades can adapt to gain energy from the wind even Where:
though this changes its direction. These technology
increases the efficiency of the turbines and decreases the K.E = Kinetic Energy
risk of damage, but it also motivates us to look for new M = Mass
wind turbine locations where these problems are not V = velocity
presented.
Power
Offshore Wind speed
!
P = A V!
!
As we already said before, offshore wind turbines have
A = r!
been taken seriously as an alternative or supplement to
onshore wind turbines since 1991. The problem of
Where:
efficiency that the onshore wind turbine faces due to the
change of velocity of the wind is solved in offshore
P=Power
farms. The wind speeds over the oceans are typically
= Air density
much higher, and are also much more consistent. This
V = velocity
means that you can optimize the offshore wind turbine
A=Rotor swept area
with a higher wind velocity that will produce energy
always in the ideal velocity. Making the production of
energy more efficient in offshore than in onshore.
To take advantage of the stronger winds in the offshore
Furthermore wind speeds increases in the afternoons,
farms, offshore turbines need to be bigger than onshore
when power demand is the highest. As opposed to
turbines and have a bigger generation capacity. Offshore
onshore. Which experiences the highest winds speed
turbines generally have nominal capacities between 2
during the night; when the demand is at its lowest.. If
MW and 5 MW, with tower heights greater than 200 feet
offshore turbines are optimized to experience higher
and rotor diameters of 250 to 430 feet. The maximum
velocity in the afternoons, they will produce more
height of the structure, at the very tips of the blades, can
energy when the grid needs an additional boost. This
easily approach 500 feet, and turbines even larger than 5
may reduce the number of back-up plants that must be
MW are being designed and tested for future use.
maintained and operated to meet the peak load reducing
the carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, the benefit that comes with the offshore
wind farms comes with a more expensive price in
As offshore wind tends to blow stronger and more
comparison with onshore wind farms. These prices tend
uniformly than in onshore farms, the potential energy
to increase because the wind turbine needs to be adapted
produced from the wind is directly proportional to the
to the stronger wind conditions. They also need to resist
cube of the wind speed. For instance, a turbine at a site
the extreme storms, which are more severe than in
with an average wind speed of 16 mph would produce
onshore.
50% more electricity than at a site with the same turbine
and average wind of 14 mph. This is one of the main
Wind speeds in the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of
reasons why offshore wind turbines are gaining
Mexico are lower that wind speeds in the Pacific Coasts.
popularity among the conventional farms in the United
However, the Pacific Ocean has deeper waters in
States. Another reason is, that in the United States 53%
comparison to the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of
of the nations population lives in coastal areas, where
Mexico. All these things need to be taking into
energy cost and demands are pretty high and the
consideration when evaluating the location of a wind
transportation of the energy does not result that
farm. Nowadays, it is not enough to evaluate the
inefficient.
engineering part regarding the wind speed in the location
of the farms. The materials of the turbine or the grids for
Wind speed equations:
transporting the electricity, and the economical aspects
are crucial factors as well. We will talk about this point
Kinetic Energy
later on in our investigation.
!
K.E = !
!
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V. ENERGY TRANSPORTATION
One very important aspect when producing energy is
how to get it from where it is being produce to the place
where it will be consumed. In the case of offshore wind
turbines a new technology for transporting the energy
with the least energy loss has gained a lot of attention in
the last years.
This technology first transforms the Medium Voltage
Alternating Current (MVAC) produced by the turbines
into High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC). This is done
in a floating platform near the farm. Once being HVDC
it can travel trough cables underneath the sea for as long
as 100 km with a maximum loss of 4 % of the energy.
When it arrives to mainland it is then transformed into
High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) by a
converting station. After it has been transformed into
HVAC it can then be putted into the grid, where it will
be transported to all the places needed. (Siemens, 2014)
Table 1, Table that shows the differences in losses between AC
and DC. Source: (JRC TECHNICAL REPORT, 2015)
The cables that transport the current are quite special.
They need to be able to undergo really high pressures,
salt water, temperature and other factors that affect the
material they are made up of. Mainly these cables are
made up of really strong insulating materials such as
Polyethylene and Polypropylene; also these cables have
many layers that help with the insulation and to reduce
energy losses.
VI. COSTS
One very important aspect when analyzing a project is
the investment or the cost that it will require to develop
the project. In the case of offshore wind farms the
investment varies depending basically in two mayor
aspects the depth of the water, where the monopole will
be attached to the ground, and the distance from the farm
to the shore that is basically the length of the cable from
the turbine to the grid. As for 2014 the cost per kw
5
installed goes from 700-900 USD depending on the
country (IRENA 2015). These costs can be estimated
depending by the depth and distance where the farm is
going to be located by the following Table 3.
These costs are expected to decrease in the following
years due to the new technology like floating platforms
and economies of scale, which make the project way
more interesting for private investment.
Another important aspect when comparing electricity
prices is the costs per kwh. The next Table 2, shows the
prices of kwh of each type of renewable energy in the
sector. As it can be seen offshore wind power if one of
the lowest and is expected as said before to go even
lower. Which makes it really attracting.
Power Plant Type
Cost
$/kW-hr
Coal $ 0.15
Natural Gas $ 0.07
Nuclear $ 0.095
Onshore Wind $ 0.045
Offshore Wind $ 0.06
Solar PV $ 0.125
Solar Thermal $ 0.24
Geothermal $ 0.05
Biomass $ 0.10
Hydro $ 0.08
Table 2, Table that shows the costs per kwh depending on the
power plant. Source: (EIA, 2014)
Even though the installation of offshore wind turbines
requires a substantially higher initial investment than
onshore wind installations, the benefits are considerable
and include higher levels of reliability, steadier yields in
terms of more full-load hours compared to onshore wind
power installations and, in this respect, a significantly
higher yield per turbine. So even when the costs are
higher the return on the investment will be greater in
offshore locations due to the fact that the energy
production will be more and more constant.
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Table 3, Table of the scale of the investment depending on the depth of the water and the distance to the shore by the European Energy
Association.
VII. MATERIALS
There are many materials used in wind turbines, for each
part of the turbine is required a different type of
material. All of them are summarized in the Table 4 and
will be explained one by one, in order to understand
their use in each part of the turbine.
Steel: it is used mainly for structural components of
the turbine, such as the tower, hub, frame, shafts,
gear, and gear cases.
Composites: these materials are two or more
materials with different physical and chemical
properties held together but remain separate in a way
where they do not merge into one another. These
ones are principally used for the manufacture of the
blades and the nacelle. The commonly used
materials for this purpose are: glass fibers, carbon
fiber reinforcing, and wood-epoxy laminates.
6
Copper: used in all electrical equipment due to its
high electrical conductivity, including the power
conductors.
Concrete: it is normally used for the foundations of
the turbines or for the tower in some cases.
All these materials can be affected due to the harsh
environment they are placed in when talking about
offshore wind turbines. There can be high temperatures
and moisture when in warm climates. Both of them call
for desiccants, dehumidifiers and better sealing systems;
all of them should be applied before the turbine is
erected in site. Cold climate can also damage the
turbines and its whole system, which would need heaters
on critical parts in order to have the correct operation. So
in other words, many materials of the wind turbines are
the same no mater the location of the wind farm. But
some materials need to be adapted depending on the
location and conditions where the farm is going to be.
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Table 4, Table of Material Used in Wind Turbines. Source: ACMA, 2016
VIII. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
It is moment to analyze all the effects, positive as well as
negative, that this type of energy has on the
environment. First of all, regarding the positive aspects,
it is widely known that wind power is a renewable
source of energy, which makes it a much greener form
of energy than fossil fuels, which makes the first source
of energy nowadays.
There are many positive facts in implementing wind
power to our society, comparing it to conventional forms
of energy.
There is no mining: no big movements on the
ground, sediment drag, water channel disturbance, or
particle pollution.
There is no metallurgy: no transformation of a fuel,
big consumption of energy, or radioactive waste.
Also, it does not involve aggressive chemicals, air
pollution coming from a refinery, nor explosions.
There is no combustion or fission: which avoids
nuclear accidents, or fuel spills; also there are no
CO2 or any greenhouse effect emissions, toxic gases
or thermal pollution.
No waste: there is no waste, neither radioactive nor
ashes.
But this does not mean that wind power has zero impact
on the environment, although those impacts are lower
than the ones from fossil fuels. This is why, a change is
needed right away. The world is running out of time, if
fossil fuels are still used at the same pace as done until
now, our future generations will probably have little or
no resources left, such as water. Also the Earth will be
extremely hot, the ocean will evaporate in a big quantity
and animals will die. Action is crucial now.
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We can take into consideration three aspects that make
up the mentioned analysis regarding the negative
aspects. These being: landscape and amenity; birds, bats
and farming and seabirds, fish and marine conservation.
The first two, are considered mostly for onshore wind
farms, unlike the last one, that makes emphasis on
offshore energy.
The first aspect is mainly a prejudicial problem,
concerning the development of wind farms because
some people see the turbines as a visual intrusion,
especially onshore. This is because they obstruct the
landscape, or so it is said, turbines are ugly for people.
Of course, this depends on the number of turbines in a
wind farm, size and arrangement of them. It is not the
same to have 10 turbines, than to have 100, of course the
latter would obstruct a huge part of the landscape,
avoiding people to contemplate the geography. This
aspect can be complemented with the complaints of the
turbines being noisy if there is someone living nearby.
But these complaints are reduced the moment when
people actually live near the turbines, when they realize
that it is not that bad. Most of these objections come
from people that are skeptical about the threat of the
climate change
Although some of them think they are unsightly, surveys
shows that around 80% of people accept these turbines,
showing high levels of support and this percentage is
growing as people experience the wind farms near them.
The next aspect, birds, bats and farming probably
involves the biggest problem, there are many studies that
report the killing of many birds annually due to the
location of the turbines. These wind farms disturb the
migration of birds, as well as that of bats. This is a big
concern for the energy sector, which continues its
progress. There is an organization responsible of taking
care of that issue, trying to prevent the killing of birds
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but also accepting the fact that the need for renewable
energy is extremely urgent because climate change is
threatening more species than wind power. This Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds is actually making its
best in order to protect the species. This is because in the
long term, birds will be more affected by climate than by
a random encounter with a turbine. This problem
involves different aspects, not only the direct killing of a
bird by a rotating turbine. These risks can be
summarized in three groups:
Migration routes and corridors: flight paths and
patterns of birds are concentrated in restricted
areas, such as mountains. So with the location of
onshore turbines mostly in mountain passes,
they are interfering with their routes disorienting
and making birds lose their flock, sometimes
leading to death.
Electrocution: overhead power distribution lines
from turbines, lead to some risks like
electrocution of birds and bats.
Disturbance of habitat: the breeding of these
species can be disturbed by the wind turbines,
this because if their preferable habitats are
occupied by the turbines, birds will have to
move elsewhere to breed. If they move to a
habitat with unfavorable conditions, their breed
can die.
The last, but not least aspect encompasses seabirds,
fish and marine conservation for offshore wind
farms. Although risks for this one are low (the visual
problem is eliminated because they are far from
shore and the noise is almost null as nobody can
hear from that far), they are not negligible. The risks
of collision for birds are extremely low, so even the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is really
optimistic for this scenario, accepting the almost null
risks for birds and bat at offshore. For the case of
seabirds, they may have the problem with breeding,
but it is shown that the overall effect on population
is negligible. Regarding fish and other marine
species, offshore wind energy development includes
effects of mortality, injury, vulnerability, habitat
change and threats. Another risk for marine wildlife
is the noise generated by the construction and
operation of the turbines, causing modification on
their behavior, reduction of habitat and displacement
due to the turbines placed there.. This noise tends to
travel underwater interfering and damaging the
acoustic system of the marine species it encounters
in that area. Many mammals living in the sea depend
on their hearing systems to live, orient and predate,
so if the noise interferes with that, it can cause
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impossibility to interpret the environment and
masking communication with their own species.
Although there can be a noise damage during the
operational phase, the biggest problem is developed
during the construction phase. It is proved that
reported noise from operating turbines is really low
and unlikely to damage the mentioned hearing
system of marine species.
IX. STATE OF ART
In December 2015 195 countries adopted the first global
climate deal in Paris. The agreement sets a plan to
reduce and eventually stop global warming. One of the
most important issues is the reduction of carbon
emissions. This is one of the mayor reasons why there
has been such an investment worldwide to find greener
sources of energy.
In this section two types of ongoing research is going to
be discussed. The first one: vertical axis wind turbines.
(S. Astariz, 2016)
There has been a lot of investigation in the past years
looking to introduce vertical axis wind turbines,
especially in deep water locations. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012).
The research shows that vertical axis offshore wind
turbines should perform better than horizontal axis
turbines and be more cost-effective. (Sun Xiaojing,
2012) This is due to the following facts: vertical axis
turbines have a simpler structure than horizontal axis
ones; the rotation of the turbine isnt affected by the
direction in which the wind is blowing; they have a low
center of gravity and the maintenance cost of the turbine
should be greatly reduced. Because of these factors the
size, and thus the power of the vertical axis wind turbine
might be able to get much bigger when compared to
horizontal axis. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) Shanghai
University has a Marine and Wind Energy research
group that has focused on developing a novel vertical
axis wind turbine. The turbine has several flat plates
around the rotor. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) In addition to
having all the advantages of vertical axis wind turbines,
this type of turbine also can achieve the higher wind
energy utilization efficiency and structural stability than
conventional vertical axis wind turbines. Thus, this
design could have great potential for offshore
application. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
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Figure 2, Novel vertical axis wind turbine. Shanghai University
There is a new concept developed by Ris DTU,
Technical University of Denmark that consists of a
Darrieus rotor and a long vertical rotating tube extended
into the water and connected to the seabed by a morring
system, which gives the system a very simple structure
and appearance (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) The system is
designed to reduce the cost of the generation of energy
in offshore wind farms. The energy generator is installed
at the bottom of the tube and it can regulate the rotor
during operation. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
There is another study on a floating turbine in which the
inclination of the wind turbine can be adjusted to harvest
as much wind as possible making this concept one of the
most efficient ones. As a large tilt angle can be allowed,
the total weight of the system is reduced. Some major
components such as generator can be mounted above the
water surface and are convenience for maintenance.
Although there are only preliminary estimation and
comparison conducted, the techniques inventors
believed that this new technique can lead to develop a
break- through to reduce the present high energy cost of
offshore wind power generation. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
The second type of ongoing research is co-located wind
and wave energy farms. Creating this energy hybrid
has risen as a solution to develop the accessibility to
wind turbines. (S. Astariz, 2016) As wave energy
convertors extract energy from incident waves and wind
energy turbines are assembled in the same structure. In
this way there is a more sustainable use of space in
marine areas, there is a reduction in the intermittency
that there is in the generation of energy of both of these
renewable energy sources and the reduction of costs by
sharing the most expensive element of an offshore
project: installation. (S. Astariz, 2016).
There are many aspects in the operation and
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maintenance of offshore wind farms. A particular
offshore wind farm can have efficiency problems when
located in a difficult sea condition like large wave
heights, this leads to downtime of the turbine which
increases the cost of energy. (S. Astariz, 2016) This
problem can be if not solved, countered by combining
wind and wave energy systems, improving the
accessibility to the wind turbines in offshore
environments y reducing wave heights within the
particular farm and, of course generating additional
power production. There is still a lot of research that
needs to be done in order to successfully develop this
technology and efficiently couple it into the grid. And
there still a lot of development to be done specially in
the wave energy sector of this hybrid, however in the
study referenced in this research it is mentioned that in
order for wave energy to receive the investment it needs
it is probable that it needs a backup energy, in this case
wind energy, in order to make projects attractive for
investors. As we can see the benefits of coupling two
kinds of renewable energy sources are great and it not
only benefits investors as it reduces costs. But it also
makes it easier to include this kinds of energy into the
grid as the technology to do it with offshore farms
already exists.
X. CONCLUSIONS
In this investigation we strived to figure out if, in fact,
offshore wind turbines were better than those in onshore
locations. Comparing the cost of energy, the cost of the
technology, the area in which the farms are installed,
size and efficiency of the turbine and the environmental
effects that onshore and offshore wind farms have. With
all this in mind we can say that offshore wind farms are
not the solution to all the problems regarding energy,
however it is one of the solutions that will play an even
bigger role in the energetic sector in the near future.
Offshore wind power is one of the cheapest renewable
energies when talking about the cost per kWh in the
market right now, and with the development of bigger
and more efficient turbines prices are expected to drop
even more, thus making it more interesting for investors,
therefore creating a cycle that provides offshore wind
technology the ability to have investment for further
development.
Having an immense area for developing farms also plays
a key role in the development of technology of offshore
wind turbines as it is not restricted by land thus allowing
turbines to be bigger and more efficient. The fact that
99% of the worlds countries have coasts also makes it
easier for all countries to adopt this technology,
especially when most of the worlds biggest cities are
near the shore. Providing these cities with clean energy
EA-O16-T2 10

is of vital importance for the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions. However offshore wind farms are not
100% environmentally friends, as was discussed above,
but the benefits greatly outweigh the costs, and a next
step would be to look for ways in which marine life
could be less affected by turbines.
Offshore wind energy has a bright future ahead, and the
development of technology is needed to ensure that
clean energy is provided around the globe.
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