Brent Christensen has forecasted that Europe’s offshore wind sector has reached an important milestone three to four years ahead of schedule. This, of course, is great news for wind energy investors. Christensen, who is in charge of cost projection for Siemens’s wind power division, reported that achieving wind energy at €100, or $113, per megawatt hour is now possible. What this means is that offshore wind farms have the potential to be built without government aid since they are economically viable without additional support.
Wind energy has seen a rapid reduction in price over the course of the last three years, dropping 27% since 2014. According to a 2016 Lazard survey, wind energy has become either cheaper or equal to coal-powered generators, nuclear reactors, and rooftop solar arrays.
In fact, there are a few who predict that there will be a further reduction in price — forecasting that it will be possible to deliver wind energy at €75 ($84) and €62 ($70) MWh in the future. But this optimistic advancement depends entirely on cable, turbine, and converter technology developing further. However, both Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind have disclosed plans to have such technology in place for the completion of the 2024-2025 North Sea project.
The Renewable Energy Revolution
The fall in wind power price is a win for renewable energy as it makes the power source both economically and environmentally attractive. Other promising news that could help the trend of wind-power to be adopted is Denmark providing all their power for a day using the source, as well as the development of record-breaking turbines that are able to produce 216,000 kWh of energy in a 24-hour time frame.
That said, the falling price of renewable energy is not just reserved for wind-power. There have been a number of similar victories taking place in the solar energy industry. According to a recent Bloomberg report, in the coming four years solar power will be cheaper than coal worldwide since it dropped in price by 58% within the last five years.
Keep in mind that it’s highly unlikely that our world will use less power because populations are going to continue to increase and industries have to keep up to meet demand. Therefore, to save our planet from climate change and pollution, we have to start thinking outside of the box. And by outside of the box, I mean making sure that the energy that we use is both cleaner and greener. Wind and solar power are on the right track as they set the stage for renewables creating both collective and individual gain.
Featured Image: depositphotos/paulmhill
