Knowledge-Transfer Webinar: Offshore wind

Last week, Women in Wind held its first Knowledge-Transfer Webinar of 2020, on the topic of offshore wind. We were thrilled to welcome back Anna Diedrichkeit (Mentor 2019 and Offshore Product Manager at GE Renewable Energy) and Angela Lock (General Manager, APAC, Tekmar Group), both of whom spoke for our webinar series in 2019.

Anna (top-left in below image) and Angela (top-right in below image) shared their insights on offshore wind trends, market growth, cost reduction and technology evolution with more than 30 participants of our program in this closed-door session. Some of the insights include:

•  GWEC shared its offshore market outlook from its Market Intelligence practice, which foresees 51 GW of new offshore wind installations from 2020 to 2024. Of this volume, around 31 GW will be installed in six key emerging offshore markets: the US, Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. 
• Anna addressed the immense global market growth forecast to 2030, as installations stretch reach 10 GW/year and stretch beyond Europe. She also addressed the three main types of offshore foundations, the principal engineering and financing challenges which differentiate offshore wind from onshore wind, as well as the different drivers of cost reduction for offshore projects.
• Angela provided a deep-dive into the Mainland China offshore market, and discussed the general dynamics of procurement and construction in this context. She then walked the group through the design, function and necessity of sub-sea cable protection systems, and how they fit into the business case for offshore projects.

We had a high level of engagement and large number of questions from mentors and mentees during the webinar. Anna and Angela answered queries related to offshore technology evolution and different kinds of floating models, the importance of port infrastructure to offshore wind, the level of local content required for offshore wind projects in Mainland China and maintenance costs for offshore wind.

The next Knowledge-Transfer Webinar for the 2020 program will focus on Project Financing and Management, and will take place at the end of June. Stay tuned to our blog for the next summary!