Wind Turbine Price May Fall by as much as 25% by 2050

The Energy Research Center now says that competition and innovation in the turbine industry might just cut the cost of offshore turbines. Of course, this will only happen if the government backs the industry to give it the help that it needs to grow.

The UK’s effort to make its renewable energy target is likely to be boosted by a near 25 percent fall in the cost of offshore wind turbines by 2025, according to engineers. However, they have also warned that the prices may not fall. In fact, they could even rise if the government cuts its financing of research and development. Prices could also rise if competition between wind turbine makers or improvements in technology stall out.

Just last week, the Carbon Trust, which has an offshore wind accelerator R&D fund, was named on a list of government sectors under review for possible cuts. Meanwhile, the United States wind turbine maker, Clipper, entered crisis talks with its parent company over significant liquidity strain.

The recent reports by the UK Energy Research Center follows the opening last Thursday of the world’s largest offshore farm off the cost of Kent. The report predicts that offshore wind is likely to fall from the £149 per megawatt hour in 2009 to around £115 per megawatt hour in 2025. This fall would come from competition between turbine makers driving down prices, manufacturing scale, innovation and standardization.

Offshore wind turbines are seen by the government as very crucial in the push to meet targets of generating 30 percent of electricity from renewables by 2020. However, it is almost twice as expensive as electricity from gas power stations. The UK currently only has 1GW of installed offshore wind turbines. This is about the equivalent to one coal fire power station.