By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 25 -- More than 2,300 wind turbines are expected to be installed offshore, primarily off the UK, over the next 5 years at a cost of $13 billion, said John Westwood of Douglas-Westwood Ltd.
High prices for oil and natural gas have greatly improved the comparative economics of offshore renewable energy, a technology that has been attracting considerable attention as onshore sites are used up, Westwood said at a meeting in Aberdeen.
A recent analysis by Douglas-Westwood and ODE Ltd. of expenditure on the Scroby Sands offshore wind farm, a 60 Mw, 30-turbine project which ODE brought into production off the coast of Norfolk earlier this year, shows such projects can benefit UK companies and workers.
Of the £80 million expenditure on the Scroby Sands wind farm, 48% was spent in the UK, with 16% spent in the "East of England region," said Douglas-Westwood officials. More than 656,000 man-hr was committed to manufacturing, construction, and operations, with workers across the UK winning 73% of the jobs and local people, nearly 30%.
"It is an excellent endorsement of the government's action in promoting offshore wind," said Douglas-Westwood's Owen Williams, joint author of the new analysis.