Wave & floating wind energy – sharing opportunities report
06.06.2023
Sharing infrastructure, services and supply chain between wind and wave energy projects can reduce the wind Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) by up to 7% and the wave LCOE can decrease by up to 40%. The combined LCOE of a shared project can be up to 12% lower than separate projects.
Wave Energy Scotland (WES) recently commissioned OWC Ltd. to study and quantify the benefits of sharing infrastructure, supply chain and services between floating wind farms and wave energy developments.
The resulting report, available here, investigated a series of scenarios covering the full range of sharing opportunities, with promising conclusions. Cost reductions are shown to be available to both wind and wave technologies without needing to consider fully hybrid wind/wave platforms – an option considered to be too high-risk at this stage by most stakeholders.
LCOE benefits can be accrued through two wave scale-up pathways when collocated with wind projects in high wave energy sites. Depending on the technology type, wave can be integrated by placing individual megawatt-scale devices in clusters between floating wind turbines or by mounting numerous wave devices on versatile floating platforms. This platform could be similar to the floating wind substructures, sharing their supply chain and manufacturing processes.
WES is sharing the report widely to start a cross-sector dialogue around this opportunity and would be keen to gather your thoughts and feedback.
WES plans to collaborate on the delivery of a facilitated workshop with stakeholders in wind and wave – please CLICK if you are interested in attending such an event.