Investment Costs of Offshore Wind Turbines

Abstract

The use of renewable energies for electricity generation is necessary to reach the US government goals for reducing their CO2 emissions. One of the key technologies is wind energy. It is an abundant resource with a high potential for net energy generation, especially offshore. Until now, the US hasn’t experience in offshore wind technology. The state of Michigan, surrounded by the Great Lakes offers a very high potential for offshore wind generation.

Therefore the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan is working on a project to analyze the wind energy potential in Lake Michigan. A combination of cost analysis and GIS Mapping show those locations in the Lake, where the levelized costs of energy (LCOE) are be at least. For different offshore locations with certain water depths and distances to shore, different types of foundation are preferred to use. The choice of foundation is mainly dependent on water depth.

The aim of my research is to figure out the total investment costs of offshore wind turbines with different types of foundations. In addition a separation in foundation-, turbine- and electrical costs is done. The aim is to create a graph of investment costs of all foundation types according to water depth respectively distance to shore.