£74bn potential savings for renewables developers
New research highlights that tackling corrosion issues and developing new materials could save up to £74 billion for renewables developers by 2050.
The research by North Sea Solutions for Innovation in Corrosion for Energy (NeSSIE) also indicates that there may be up to £72bn of untapped opportunities in the European wave, tidal and offshore wind energy supply chain.
“It’s clear from this early work, that there are a wide range of technical solutions that can be deployed to great effect in the offshore renewables sector,” said Stefano Valentini, NeSSIE ASTER project manager, who led on the study.
“The EU supply chain is at the forefront of subsea excellence and we are confident this will bring forth excellent solutions that will see the cost of energy coming down in offshore renewables.”
Economic potential
Corrosion is an important concern for offshore energy developers. All marine structures face corrosion problems impacting on the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs along the global lifecycle.
In the case of offshore windfarms, the O&M costs are typically around 15 to 30% of the total lifecycle, with corrosion issues a significant factor in these costs.
The reports found that based on offshore renewable deployment estimations, anti-corrosion solutions and new materials could see potential developers saving over £14 billion for wave and tidal energy projects in the EU by 2050 and potentially over £60 billion of savings for offshore wind projects.
The research aims to utilise the existing EU subsea supply chain and their knowledge to develop commercial solutions.
Both reports are available online – http://www.nessieproject.com
By Anne-Marie Causer
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