Norway comes out well in two reports that estimate the possibilities of generating energy with wind turbines.
One study, published by Science Direct and compiled by researchers from six countries, reveals that Europe has room for 11 million wind turbines, enough to generate more electricity than the world is expected to use in 2050, reports NRK.
It is Norway, Russia and Turkey that come out best in terms of land potential, where they are described as countries with “little wind energy and large wind resources – and plenty of space”.
The sea breeze blows
Another report, the Global Offshore Wind Market Report, will be launched on Wednesday by Norwegian Energy Partners during the NORWEP Energy Conference. According to that report, offshore wind in the world will increase sharply as an energy resource in the coming years, averaging 24 % in each of the next five years.
This would mean that an expected installed capacity of 35 gigawatts at the end of 2019 could be 85 gigawatts by 2024.
This is faster growth than previously expected, and a comparison with previous reports shows an accelerating market growth, writes head of NORWEP’s work with offshore wind and solar energy, Jon Dugstad in an email to NTB.
Possibilities
According to Wind Europe yesterday, 4.2 % of Norwegian energy came from wind; everything from land, and offshore wind has so far cost more to produce than it has been worth.
However, the cost of offshore wind is now approaching the power price in the market. According to NORWEP, the price of power produced by offshore wind turbines in Europe is competitive in an increasing number of projects. Larger turbines with higher availability, new power cables, reduced installation time and innovative maintenance solutions contribute to lower costs, points out Dugstad, who believes it offers great opportunities for Norway.
In the fast growing market for offshore wind, there is a great need for suppliers with expertise from offshore energy activities as we know it from Norway. This provides great opportunities for the development of a strong Norwegian supplier industry for offshore wind, and we believe Norwegian industry can export goods and services of offshore wind for close to NOK 50 billion in a 10-year perspective, he says.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
