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Offshore wind powers ahead as prices drop 30% below nuclear, Ecologist  Kieran Cooke 19th July 2016 The cost of offshore wind power in the North Sea is 30% lower than that of new nuclear, writes Kieran Cooke – helped along by low oil and steel prices, reduced maintenance and mass production. By 2030 the sector is expected to supply 7% of Europe’s electricity.

A building boom is underway offshore in Europe. Up to 400 giant wind turbines are due to be built off the northeast coast of the UK in what will be the world’s largest offshore wind development.

Output from theDogger Bank projectwill be 1.2 GW (gigawatts) – enough to power more than a million homes.

Next year, a 150-turbine wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands is due to start operating, and other schemes along the Dutch coast are in the works.

Denmark, Sweden and Portugal are major investors in offshore wind, and China has ambitious plans for the sector.

Wind farms – both onshore and offshore – are a key ingredient in renewable energy policy, and an important element in the battle against climate change.

WindEurope, an offshore wind industry group, says that at the present rate of installations it’s likely Europe will be producing about 7% of its electricity from offshore wind by 2030.

Ofshore wind developers benefit from falling costs……..

Offshore wind’s greatest renewable competitor is probably solar power, which has seen dramatic cost reductions in recent years. But the two technologies make a harmonious fit – the two together producing a smoother electricity supply curve, and one that more closely matches demand, than either alone.http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2987919/offshore_wind_powers_ahead_as_prices_drop_30_below_nuclear.html