A wind of opportunity

The offshore wind turbine market's desire for quality levels approaching that of aerospace for reliability could present opportunities for those UK aerospace businesses already offering the skills and services to get involved.

UK offshore wind took a significant step forward on January 8th with The Crown Estate's announcement of successful bidders for ‘Round 3' offshore development zones. With construction expected to start in 2014, the zones leased in Rounds 1, 2 and 3 will accommodate some 7,000 offshore wind turbines by 2020.

To supply, install and operate thousands of turbines will require a manufacturing and support services industry comparable in scale to that of North Sea oil and gas. Supply chains that could expand to manufacture these turbines already exist in continental Europe, but this market presents an opportunity for UK aerospace businesses to get involved as they already offer many relevant skills and services.
 
Key supply opportunities

The technical and volume of supply challenges go far beyond current onshore wind engineering. Annual production for UK offshore installation will reach 1,000 turbines by the middle of the decade, and includes opportunities for: design and manufacture of composite blades up to 75m long and 30 tonnes in weight; supply of panels for nacelle covers, rotor spinners (hub covers) and internal components for blades; tooling for composite blades, covers and associated components; aerofoil/blade design; mechanical and marine test facilities; high reliability large (over 40 tonnes) gearboxes or direct drive generators; large bearings (e.g. 4m diameter) and up to 10 tonne forgings and 25 tonne castings.

Clearly these opportunities will become more accessible once turbine assembly begins in the UK.

Scale and certainty of the industry

UK Government has demonstrated its commitment to offshore wind through a range of significant policy and infrastructure initiatives. Including an agreement to develop an integrated offshore grid in the North and Irish seas; easing of financing of grid connections; market development incentives (including Renewable Obligation market incentives); eased development consents; and backed offshore technology development with £120 million for eligible projects.

This is a major growth market and the UK is leading. The global wind market's compound annual growth rate over the past 25 years has averaged over 23% (28% in the last 10 years). Growth rates well into double digits are predicted for offshore wind up to and beyond 2020. The UK has installed the most offshore wind products in the world, and will retain that top status for many years to come. The big players in the wind industry have certainly seen the UK as the most interesting offshore market for quite some time.

The medium term UK and European offshore market is for 1,000 turbines per year, worth some £7 billion per year, including £1.4 billion for blades. In addition, the onshore market will also grow, requiring several thousand turbines by 2020.

Wind sector business challenges are significant. It will be necessary to maintain year on year cost and price reductions to remain competitive, particularly as competing renewable energy sources improve. Industry growth rates however far exceed those of aerospace and most other sectors.
 
Round 3 timetable to construction

The Crown Estate timetable for development of the Round 3 zones suggests that consents and contracts will be set in place between 2012 and 2013 and that construction could start in 2014. The first Round 3 wind farms should be operational in 2016. Whilst series production of blades for Round 3 zones may not be required before 2015, installation of Round 2 (and its extension) is ramping up in the meantime. The market will soon expand beyond the current capacity for blade manufacture in Europe, especially as blade length extends beyond what can be made in the existing facilities.

Blades and composites

Blades typically use single piece shells of up to 75m length and over 5m chord - significantly larger, for example, than the 30m composite exteriors of the Airbus A350 XWB wing.

The majority of blades for the European market are manufactured in-house by the key turbine suppliers in Germany and Denmark (Siemens, Vestas, REpower). One of the major challenges is transporting such large structures safely and economically. Given the additional risk of currency fluctuations, setting up purpose built facilities at or near port sites in the UK could become more attractive than long distance transportation.

The closure of production by Vestas at its UK site on the Isle of Wight should not be seen as an indicator of the future of UK blade making. The site was too small for offshore blade manufacturing and new R&D facilities are under construction there. In addition, Clipper Windpower is working on its ‘Britannia Project' – a 10MW offshore turbine with 70m long blades that Clipper expects to manufacture from late 2011 in a new 4,000m² manufacturing facility on the Tyne.

The challenges for composite engineers in this field are based around making structures bigger than boats at a cost and speed of product turnaround closer to automotive, and at quality levels approaching that of aerospace for reliability. The cost of manufacture per kilogram of a finished composite component is around 10 times higher in the aerospace sector compared to wind.

Help for businesses

Companies looking to develop into this sector in the UK can benefit from assistance through several government schemes. The Department for Energy and Climate Change's UK Renewables Service can signpost to the most appropriate provider of support and help businesses to assess the potential market for their own products and services. If appropriate, it can also help develop a business strategy to exploit that potential.

The Crown Estate manages over half of the UK foreshore and all seabeds out to 12 nautical miles and has held three rounds of tenders for leases to site some 6,000 turbines by 2020. The Crown Estate is also providing assistance to get a UK supply chain mobilised. In support of its regional supply chain events in early 2010 it has published a booklet that provides an introductory overview of all of the key engineering components and services involved in constructing and operating an offshore wind farm. The booklet is available free from http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/guide_to_offshore_windfarm.pdf.

Further supply chain analysis is in the booklet ‘Towards Round 3: Building the Offshore Wind Supply Chain', 2009, BVG Associates for The Crown Estate is available at: http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/round3_supply_chain_gap_analysis.pdf

In addition, UK Trade and Investment assists UK businesses to trade abroad, and encourages and assists inward investment from companies based abroad. Technologies relevant to wind are dealt with under its advanced engineering portfolio.
 
www.ukrenewables.com

*Images courtesy of Siemens and REpower