Suggestions
News & Insights
No results found
06 Jun 2023

Pioneering carbon-cost optimisation in offshore wind foundations

Ed unwin thumbnail banner

Offshore wind allows the UK to harness its naturally strong winds. The ScotWind leasing process enabled developers to apply for seabed rights to plan and then build wind farms in Scottish waters. As much as 27.6GW of new generating capacity will be built over the next decade as a result, and 65% (18GW) of that is earmarked to be floating wind. With turbine ratings expected between 15-20MW, Scottish waters could see over 1,400 new turbine foundations from this lease alone.

Early decision-making for offshore wind is driven by multiple objectives, such as the levelised cost of electricity. Given the scale of buildout and considering the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy, optimising for the embodied carbon different fabrication and transportation scenarios may support scenarios with a higher level of local content.

Kent has worked in partnership with the Institute for Energy Systems at The University of Edinburgh, and our former summer internship student, Clementine Thompson, through a master’s thesis on multi-objective optimisation for carbon emissions and the cost of offshore wind foundations.

The cost and embodied carbon from over 90 offshore wind foundation design scenarios were analysed in order to determine optimal design choices for future ScotWind sites. Support Vector Regression and nonlinear relationships were used to determine the mass of steel and grout required for jackets in water depths between 40-80m with ratings 12-20MW and for steel semi-submersibles from 10-20MW. The embodied carbon from the materials was calculated using data from ecoinvent, the Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) and worldwide steel fabricators, and the costs were calculated using steel production costs from World Steel, labour costs and industry rates.

The shipping of the foundations from China, Dubai, Spain and the North of England to Scotland’s Port of Cromarty was also accounted for, using case studies such as the Seagreen and Kincardine wind foundations to determine the types of ship, the number of foundations onboard and the subsequent costs and carbon from the shipping. A theoretical scenario of local manufacture using green steel in Scotland was also considered, using projected costs and embodied carbon.

This enabled embodied carbon (gCO2eq/kWh) to be plotted against its relative cost (£2022/kW) for each scenario to assess the relative carbon-cost optimisation challenge.

Interested to learn more about this research project? Drop by our stand G40 at Renewable UK's Global Offshore Wind 2023 to connect with our Floating Offshore Wind Lead, Ed Unwin.

Discover how we implement multi-objective as Edward Unwin and Robin O’Connell discuss the process for Floating Substation Design: https://bit.ly/42l69Kt

Related Blogs

You might also like

Generic turquoise
Inclusion & Belonging
Reflections on shared parental leave
Senior Engineer, Kenny Morton, reflects on his experience of Kent's shared parental leave policy
Baytown safety milestone september 2024
Project News
A safety milestone built on 19 years of injury-free work at the Baytown Complex
Over 11.5 million hours worked without an OSHA recordable injury.
Thumbnails 6
Press Releases & Featured Stories
Kent Expands Strategic Presence in Houston, Signalling Commitment to the U.S. Market
Kent's USA expansion solidifies it's commitment to the market
Thumbnail Oil amp Gas Middle East 25 EPC contractors 2024 web thumb
Press Releases & Featured Stories
Kent Secures Top Spot in Oil & Gas Middle East 2024 Rankings
Kent ranks 6th in the top 25 EPC contractors list 2024
TL Jacob de Boer 2 Web Thumbnail
Insights & Opinions
From megawatts to methane – a sustainable solutions for ammonia plants
By Jacob De Boer, Process SME Hydrogen and New Energy
PR Energy Institute Web Thumbnail
Press Releases & Featured Stories
Kent to develop decarbonisation economics guidelines for upstream oil & gas sector on behalf of the Energy Institute
Helping industry professionals understand carbon costs and adopt metrics for effective GHG reduction.
Marcello Stroppa Web Thumbnail
Company News
Welcoming Marcello Stroppa to Kent
Our New Senior Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Development
Craft 3
the energy within.
Contact

By using our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

×