Offshore Wind in Crisis! What Can We Learn?

The UK imports about £100 billion of energy a year , so any energy produced in house has a large effect on the balance of payments and national debt.

I was told by a offshore gas worker in Taranaki that offshore wind will be good for his company, good for regional and national economy but super bad for the environment. His reason was the crane ship that comes from Norway to do maintenance is polluting. Then he proceeds to tell me the same ship is used by the fossil gas industry in Taranaki. This is otherwise a very smart person that has been programmed by the industry he works in, programmed to believe crazy.

It is actually really amazing when I, here in Perth, explain to people how well Solar and Wind Anti-collorate, you see it click for people that have just not thought about it before.

Wow, so refreshing to get detailed explanations from someone who clearly knows her topic.

Hi Rosie, I worked as a draughtsman dealing primarily with steel ship construction. The monopile and jacketed structure options puzzle me. We can build ships out of steel because we can pull them out of the water/drydock them to paint them every now and then, otherwise corrosion will chew away the structure once the paint system is compromised, which always happens sooner or later. Given all the other difficulties that have to be dealt with at great expense to get offshore wind turbines to work, it would be sensible to seek the longest possible lifespan. I would have thought the mere idea of fixing a steel structure in place like that so that it cannot be maintained, and then parking a very expensive wind turbine on top would be enough to give any seasoned engineer palpitations.

Great video Rosie! Especially happy with your explanation of why offshore wind seems so popular despite its higher LCOE as reported in Lazard. The cute boat-Rosie animation was also great!

One of the most interesting video about windpower - thank you!

Rosie, that was an exceptionally clear overview of all the issues involved in offshore wind. Thank you! 👏👏I’m looking forward to your episode on floating offshore wind!

Such a thorough job of presenting this important topic, and your graphics make it easier to follow - great job!

Thanks Rosie. I really appreciate such a thorough explanation by someone who really knows what they are talking about, and cites sources of information. As a retired Aerodynamicist, I have a reasonable understanding of the physical generation of power from wind, and with long experience of stability augmentation of flight control, the automatic control of a turbine and generator is also well understood. But the civil engineering, economic, oceanic, and weather spects that you brought out are real eye-openers to me.

LCOE is inferior to total system cost calculations. Solar and wind complementing each other, on average, does not negate reserve requirements (there's still too many times when both are providing low output). Batteries are not sufficient either given that they're typically only able to provide for 4 to 6 hours. Hence LCOE is fine if your renewable penetration is relatively low (< 20% of installed capacity). But once penetration gets really high... 40%+, additional integration costs go exponential, and LCOE doesn't account for that.

Can't wait for the floating offshore one!

So basically renewable offshore generation is expensive. The latest auction failed because the companies wanted more minimum payments. In south of England already agreed projects were cut back because of visible farms in the channel

Every Kiwi who was around in the 80's knows of the Freemantle Doctor. Even if they have never been to Perth.

That's an impressively information-dense 16 minutes. Thanks for a comprehensive summary delivered in a thoroughly balanced manner. You are becoming a national, if not global treasure :-)

Brilliant video, concise, clear, interesting... look forward to more.

I can’t help thinking that some of the reason that the offshore projects failed was just because they wanted a slice of the pie of the higher electricity prices.

Being working in OW since 2014 designing farms all over the world, and this is a great video to explain this amazing industry!! Congrats

According to UN statistics around 40% of the world’s population lives <100 km from the coast. This would seem to make offshore wind one of the most useful solutions for the energy transition.

This channel is a great find. Thanks for making such informative and well presented videos. Subbed! 👍