Reasons to consider climate change in offshore wind design
Innosea’s Chief Technical Officer, Bruno Borgarino discusses some of the reasons why now is the time to consider factoring in climate-resilience plans into offshore wind infrastructure design, construction and operations.
Over the past 10 years since I began my career in offshore wind, I have continuously been amazed at the speed at which the industry grows and evolves. It continues to break records in terms of electricity generation, in producing increasingly lower-cost electricity, and indeed, it has become one of the most meaningful contributors to a future net-zero economy.
In parallel to the hugely positive steps offshore wind has been taking, I have also been struck by the visible impacts of climate change, and the threat it poses to natural and human systems, including our renewable energy generation systems.
It is natural to conceive that offshore wind farms may in some cases be vulnerable to climate change, when you consider their exposure to wind climate, wave climate, extreme events, amongst other factors. If this is the case, the long-term wind farm business plan and its ability to generate the expected amount of clean energy may be impacted.
Impacts of climate change are complex and non-uniform. They depend on location and on the magnitude of future greenhouse gas emissions. The complexity of the potential impact on offshore wind is ten-fold, as wind farms are exposed to the elements – wind, waves, sea level, temperature, ice, rain – all of which are influenced by climate change.
Furthermore, windfarms depend a lot on their supporting infrastructure (seaports, grid), which could also feel the effects of climate change. As a consequence, annual energy production, CAPEX and OPEX of an offshore wind farm may be affected by climate change – though these can only be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Whilst the risk profile posed to the sector is multi-faceted and not straightforward to assess, understanding and anticipating how climate change can impact a given wind farm may bring both short- and long-term benefits, unveiling possible new opportunities and influencing future decision-making in the next steps to take:
- Securing the wind farm business plan: ensuring that contingencies related to potential adverse impacts of climate change are quantified and included.
- Embracing adaptation opportunities: implementing upfront climate change adaptation measures and related monitoring and risk management, increasing ability to react if climate change risks materialize.
- Securing project finance: following the publication of the Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, investors and lenders are more likely to require the demonstration of the project viability in the face of a changing climate.
- Preparing for future tenders: energy infrastructure resilience to climate change is now becoming a standard requisite (see this example for hydropower). Recent R&D tenders for offshore renewables have requisite clauses about “vulnerability to changing climate conditions in offshore areas”. With increasing awareness about climate change, this requisite could well become more normalised across future tenders
Looking ahead in the longer term, planning for the resilience of offshore wind farms may render the sector more competitive compared to conventional energy sources.
If you are an offshore wind professional, we want your help to assess how the industry currently views the impact of climate change on offshore wind.
We invite you to participate in our confidential 15 min. survey here.
The results of this survey will:
- Help to increase awareness of the risks of climate change
- Determine opportunities ahead to help the industry prepare and mitigate risk
- Help to specify the support the industry needs from academic and public policies
Your contribution is really valued and important to define the roadmap ahead to achieving a climate-change resilient offshore wind market.
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Bruno Borgarino, CTO of INNOSEA (an ABL Group company).