Equinor: Floating wind costs are falling more slowly than expected

Floating wind farms should make it possible to harness the potential of deeper waters, which are unsuitable for conventional fixed-bottom turbines. However, the technology is still more expensive than conventional fixed-bottom installations. According to the head of Equinor France Renewables, costs for floating wind farms are falling slowly, and they are unlikely to become competitive with fixed-bottom installations for at least another 10 years.

The economics of floating wind farms depend heavily on turbine size. Compared with conventional offshore wind farms, they require floating structures, which add to costs. More powerful turbines can therefore spread these costs across a larger volume of generation.

For now, however, no more powerful turbines are available than those used for fixed-bottom installations. According to Alexis Darquin, director of Equinor France Renewables, the limited supply of components is a concern for wind farm developers. They need estimates of how technology and costs will develop at least 5 years ahead to draw up a business plan.

"Everyone is manufacturing components for 15MW turbines in relatively shallow waters instead of developing the 20MW turbines needed for floating farms," Alexis Darquin said at a conference organized by Montel.

According to Darquin, Siemens has started testing a 20MW turbine, but it is currently designed for fixed-bottom installations, so adapting it for possible offshore use will take some time. He said this was not ideal, as there would be a lack of competition among suppliers.

"We initially expected the costs of fixed-bottom and floating wind farms to converge by 2035, when we forecast that 1 GW of floating wind capacity would be installed worldwide, but we now expect this to happen by 2040, if not later," Darquin added, noting that only 300 MW of capacity has been commissioned so far.