Industry’s Opportunity
Industry must exploit the opportunities found offshore
Huge opportunities and great challenges await the offshore green energy industry over the next decade. According to the European Wind Energy Technology Platform, the offshore wind industry stands in front of the following challenges:
- Design, production, and maintenance of 10,000 turbines offshore by 2020
- Development and operation of the new technology
- Development of the new industrial sector
- Creation of around 300,000 jobs by 2020.
10,000 offshore turbines within ten years is a great opportunity to build an industry based on a technology that is still immature and demands much research and development along with the establishment of an efficient industrial sector in order to reduce the cost of energy.
Industry has to make two quantum leaps. One is to move business from serial demonstration to actual industrialization and the serial production of offshore turbines for near-by-coast power plants. The second will be to demonstrate and commercialize larger turbines for sites located in deeper water.
Both steps demand long and targeted innovation efforts. LORC helps industry in this process.