Abstract
Targets are set for a massive installation of offshore wind. In Europe alone the industry suggests 40 GW by 2020 and 150 GW by 2030 as viable. The development is ongoing, but in an early stage. Only approx. 2 GW of offshore wind have so far been installed in Europe, and all relatively close to shore using what can be called onshore wind technology. The topic of this seminar is deep sea offshore wind technology, i.e. technology for water depths excess of 30 meters, both bottom-fixed and floating. Bottom-fixed wind farms, and mainly at shallow waters, are expected to dominate the near term development, whereas large-scale deployment of deep offshore (floating) wind farms are expected after 2020. The high targets for offshore wind (150 GW by 2030) are only viable provided that costs can be reduced to a competitive level. This requires long-term efforts to develop offshore-specific turbine technology, sub-structures, grid connection and O&M schemes. The seminar addresses the R&D status and results on these topics through a mix of invited presentations by industry, research institutes and universities. Special emphasis is put on presenting developments in Norway having started strong research programmes on offshore wind power (NOWITECH and NORCOWE), and with industry parties being active both in demonstration programmes and as commercial developers. Examples are the floating wind turbine concept HyWind being tested at the west-coast of Norway, supplies of sub-structures to the Alpha-Ventus wind farm in German waters, and engagements in developing commercial wind farms in UK. This seminar has been arranged every year since 2004, and has been established as an important venue for the wind power sector in Norway. News for this year are that all presentations will be in English allowing for more international participation, poster presentations by PhD students and a strong focus on deep sea offshore wind technology.