In March 2019, Hornsea Wind Farm has started to provide electricity to British people. Till August, 100 wind turbines had been successfully placed in Hornsea Wind Farm, and the rest 74 will be set up before the end of 2021. At that time, the capacity of wind electricity in Hornsea will reach 1.2 GW, and Hornsea Wind Farm will be the largest wind farm around the world. What’s more, this is only the Project 1 of Hornsea Wind Farm plan. When the whole plan of Hornsea completed, the capacity of wind electricity of Hornsea Wind Farm will reach 6 GW.
Offshore wind power is superior than onshore wind power
Compared to other renewable energy sources, wind power has smaller carbon footprint and higher safety. When it comes to the comparison between two wind powers, offshore wind power is more advanced than onshore wind power.
The generation of wind power electricity is closely related to the strength and stability of wind. In the high altitude of 100 meters, the wind power density of the channel is between 1000 W/m2 and 2000 W/m2, and the wind power density in the offshore near the coast is also above 300W/m2. On land, only the plains and basins that are sparsely populated have such high-quality wind resources. However, such places tend to be far away from the consumption center of electricity, and the generated wind power electricity cannot be consumed nearby. A large amount of electricity needs to be transmitted over a long distance. Due to the waste and the cost, many onshore wind turbines were abandoned.
China failed to make good use of onshore wind power
On the contrary, offshore wind turbines are located in coastal areas, and densely populated cities are more than enough to absorb offshore wind power electricity.
European countries are pioneers in offshore wind power and dominate the global offshore wind power market. One reason of this is their geographical advantage. The coastline of Europe is vast and it belongs to the temperate maritime climate. The west wind is popular all year round and the wind resources are superior.
Inspired by generous subsidies, the offshore wind power industry in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and other European countries has developed rapidly. In 2018, the newly installed capacity of offshore wind power electricity in Europe was 2.6 GW, an increase of 18% year-on-year, accounting for 53% of the world.
Till now, there are currently 105 offshore wind farms in Europe, covering 11 countries, with a cumulative installed capacity of 18.5 GW, which takes 84% of the world’s total capacity. And European countries are in an absolute dominant position. Meanwhile, with the advancement of technology, the cost of offshore wind power electricity in Europe has dropped by 45% in the past 3 years, and Europe has taken the lead in welcoming the era of affordable offshore wind electricity.
European Top 4’s 2018 capacity takes 53.1% of the global
By the end of 2018, the total installed capacity of offshore wind power electricity in Britain reached 8183 MW, accounting for 35.7% of the total installed capacity in the world. As for Germany, it has a capacity of 6380 MW, and ranked the second with the share of 27.8% in the world. The whole construction of Hornsea Wind Farm was divided into three projects, and this construction will be completed in 2025. At that time, the capacity of Hornsea Wind Farm will be 6000 MW, which is 6 GW.
China's offshore wind power development is also accelerating. According to the construction plan issued by the National Energy Administration of China, 44 offshore wind power projects will be developed in the following years, and the total capacity will exceed 10 GW. These projects mainly distributed in coastal provinces such as Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong. Of all 44 projects, 9 were approved to take construction, and they have a capacity of 1.75 GW. The rest 35 have a capacity of 8.53 GW.
Distribution of China's offshore wind power projects
Governments of Japan and South Korea have also put offshore wind power in plan, and the US might be able to develop offshore wind farms of more than 22 GW’s capacity. In the following 10 years, offshore wind farm will be a hot spot for countries to “cultivate”.
In the offshore wind power industry, the most important links are wind turbines, electrical systems, transportation and installation, and operation and maintenance.
Offshore wind turbines are the most critical components, and their quality greatly affects the output of wind farms, and these turbines account for about 30% of the electricity cost. In addition, because the transportation and installation wind turbines on offshore are more difficult than on land, this aspect is more prominent in the total cost of offshore wind power, and accounts for about 30% of the electricity cost.
Offshore wind turbines take a big part in electricity cost
In the international market, Siemens, MHI Vestas, Adwen, and Senvion are the leading companies in the offshore wind turbine industry, which basically monopolize European offshore wind power markets. Because offshore wind turbines of these brands are in short supply and are expensive, China's offshore wind turbine market is basically dominated by its many local companies.
Market share of offshore wind turbines in China
Overall, China's offshore wind turbine manufacturers have a large gap in terms of technology and installed quantity when comparing with leading companies such as Siemens. Among China's wind power producers, Shanghai Electric and Siemens jointly promoted the wind power cooperation project, which is beneficial to Shanghai Electric to upgrade its offshore wind turbine products, and will also facilitate Siemens' entry into China's offshore wind turbine market.
One of the future development directions of the offshore wind turbine industry is the larger single-unit capacity, which can be achieved by two methods: blade upgrade and increase unit dynamics. At the same time, due to the harsh sea environment, the loss of offshore wind turbines is high, and improving the durability of offshore wind turbines will become a breach for offshore wind turbine manufacturers to compete for more market share.
We provide more professional and intelligent market reports to complement your business decisions.
Chinese