Future wind energy resources in the North Sea as predicted by CMIP6 models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea N. Hahmann ◽  
Alfredo Peña ◽  
Sara C. Pryor ◽  
Graziela Luzia
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Wind Resources

<p>Net carbon dioxide emissions have to be brought down to zero in the coming decades to hold the rise in global temperature in this century below the 2°C from pre-industrial levels. This target implies a fundamental transformation of the global energy system that will have to rely heavily on renewable energy sources. Among these, the harvesting of electricity from the wind plays an important role. Yet, climate change itself can impact the supply of renewable energy. Therefore, national climate mitigation plans need to make informed decisions regarding any changes to future extractable wind resources to consider the possible risks.</p><p>In this work, we explore the changes in wind climatology over the North Sea in the different shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) emission scenarios as identified by the output of a selection of CMIP6 simulations. Many northern European countries rely on the wind resources of the North Sea for climate mitigation. As a first step, however, we validate various aspects of the wind speed and direction and their variability in the historical CMIP6 simulations as compared to multiple long-term reanalyses. The work also includes calculations of annual energy production for existing and planned wind farms in the North Sea and how these could change in the coming decades.</p>

scholarly journals Decommissioning of offshore man-made installations: Taking an ecosystem approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
European Marine Board
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Devices ◽  
The North ◽  
Operational Life ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Near Future

We are entering a legacy era for the offshore oil and gas industry. As operations ramp down, could scientific evidence hold the key to reducing economic cost and environmental impact of full decommissioning?This Policy Brief assesses the role of marine science in reducing the environmental impact of decommissioning and highlights the scientific questions that now need to be answered to settle the debate on what should be done with these structures. Recent estimates suggest that there are currently around 1,350 oil and gas installations in the North Sea and North Atlantic regions and 1,800 offshore wind turbines in North Sea region alone. And this number is rising. The total cost of full decommissioning of oil and gas installations in the North Sea alone for the period 2015 to 2040 is estimated at between US$70 and US$82 billion. The numbers of installations requiring decommissioning is also set to increase dramatically as renewable energy devices begin reaching the end of their operational life, and as plans for exploiting renewable energy sources in the near future grow. Globally, industry and governments are embracing different decommissioning approaches, from full removal to the production of artificial reefs. The question of what is best for the environment is still to be answered.The INSITE programme, highlighted in this Policy Brief as novel model which could be implemented more widely, is a unique collaboration between leading energy companies and research. It is already funding research which is exploring the influence of man-made structures on the marine ecosystem in order to provide a solid scientific basis for future decision-making.Ultimately, appropriate decisions need to be made in the very near future regarding the decommissioning of oil and gas and renewable energy structures. At present, there remains a need for more scientific research to better inform the decision-making process regarding their fate.

scholarly journals Offshore Wind Farms as Potential Locations for Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis) Restoration in the Dutch North Sea

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Kamermans ◽  
Brenda Walles ◽  
Marloes Kraan ◽  
Luca van Duren ◽  
Frank Kleissen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Ostrea Edulis ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Flat Oyster ◽  
Oyster Restoration

The “Dutch Energy Agreement” motivates governments and industries to invest in renewable energy sources, of which offshore wind energy is one of the solutions to meet the agreed target of 16% of the total energy budget from renewable resources by 2023. An option for the multi-use of wind farms is nature-inclusive building, in which the design and construction of wind farms make use of the potential for co-design with oyster bed restoration. This can support the government’s ambitions, for the Dutch North Sea, to achieve biodiversity goals, restore ecosystem functions, and enhance ecosystem services, including future seafood production. For the recovery of flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) beds, knowledge is required about the conditions under which active restoration of this species in the North Sea can be successfully implemented. This paper gives a framework and presents results to determine suitability of wind farms for flat oyster restoration, and provides recommendations for pilot studies. Our analysis showed that a number of wind farms in the Dutch section of the North Sea are suitable locations for development of flat oyster beds. Combining oyster restoration and oyster culture, as a protein source, is a viable option worth investigating.

Accessibility assessment for operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms in the North Sea

Wind Energy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Martini ◽  
Raúl Guanche ◽  
Iñigo J. Losada ◽  
César Vidal
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
The North ◽  
Operation And Maintenance ◽  
The North Sea

scholarly journals Day-ahead Market Modelling of Large-scale Highly-renewable Multi-energy Systems: Analysis of the North Sea Region Towards 2050

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Gea Bermúdez ◽  
Kaushik Das ◽  
Hardi Koduvere ◽  
Matti Juhani Koivisto
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Unit Commitment ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Integer Variables ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

This paper proposes a mathematical model to simulate Day-ahead markets of large-scale multi-energy systems with high share of renewable energy. Furthermore, it analyses the importance of including unit commitment when performing such analysis. The results of the case study, which is performed for the North Sea region, show the influence of massive renewable penetration in the energy sector and increasing electrification of the district heating sector towards 2050, and how this impacts the role of other energy sources such as thermal and hydro. The penetration of wind and solar is likely to challenge the need for balancing in the system as well as the profitability of thermal units. The degree of influence of the unit commitment approach is found to be dependent on the configuration of the energy system. Overall, including unit commitment constraints with integer variables leads to more realistic behaviour of the units, at the cost of increasing considerably the computational time. Relaxing integer variables reduces significantly the computational time, without highly compromising the accuracy of the results. The proposed model, together with the insights from the study case, can be specially useful for system operators for optimal operational planning.

Mega wind farms in the North Sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 243 (3239) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Adam Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

Wind wake effects of large offshore wind farms, an underrated impact on the marine ecosystem?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Schrum ◽  
Naveed Akhtar ◽  
Nils Christiansen ◽  
Jeff Carpenter ◽  
Ute Daewel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Ocean Hydrodynamics

<p>The North Sea is a world-wide hot-spot in offshore wind energy production and installed capacity is rapidly increasing. Current and potential future developments raise concerns about the implications for the environment and ecosystem. Offshore wind farms change the physical environment across scales in various ways, which have the potential to modify biogeochemical fluxes and ecosystem structure. The foundations of wind farms cause oceanic wakes and sediment fluxes into the water column. Oceanic wakes have spatial scales of about O(1km) and structure local ecosystems within and in the vicinity of wind farms. Spatially larger effects can be expected from wind deficits and atmospheric boundary layer turbulence arising from wind farms. Wind disturbances extend often over muliple tenths of kilometer and are detectable as large scale wind wakes. Moreover, boundary layer disturbances have the potential to change the local weather conditions and foster e.g. local cloud development. The atmospheric changes in turn changes ocean circulation and turbulence on the same large spatial scales and modulate ocean nutrient fluxes. The latter directly influences biological productivity and food web structure. These cascading effects from atmosphere to ocean hydrodynamics, biogeochemistry and foodwebs are likely underrated while assessing potential and risks of offshore wind.</p><p>We present latest evidence for local to regional environmental impacts, with a focus on wind wakes and discuss results from observations, remote sensing and modelling.  Using a suite of coupled atmosphere, ocean hydrodynamic and biogeochemistry models, we quantify the impact of large-scale offshore wind farms in the North Sea. The local and regional meteorological effects are studied using the regional climate model COSMO-CLM and the coupled ocean hydrodynamics-ecosystem model ECOSMO is used to study the consequent effects on ocean hydrodynamics and ocean productivity. Both models operate at a horizontal resolution of 2km.</p>

scholarly journals North Sea region energy system towards 2050: integrated offshore grid and sector coupling drive offshore wind installations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Koivisto ◽  
Juan Gea-Bermúdez ◽  
Polyneikis Kanellas ◽  
Kauhshik Das ◽  
Poul Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Wind Power ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Wind Power Plant ◽  
Offshore Wind Power ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Wind Curtailment

Abstract. This paper analyses several energy system scenarios towards 2050 for the North Sea region. With focus on offshore wind power, the impacts of meshed offshore grid and sector coupling are studied. First, a project-based scenario, where each offshore wind power plant is connected individually to onshore, is compared to a meshed grid scenario. Both the amount of offshore wind installed and the level of curtailment are assessed. Then, these results are compared to a scenario with sector coupling included. The results show that while the introduction of a meshed grid can increase the amount of offshore wind installed towards 2050, sector coupling is expected to be a more important driver for increasing offshore wind installations. In addition, sector coupling can significantly decrease the level of offshore wind curtailment.

scholarly journals Structural traps and seals for expanding CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, North Sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnathon Osmond ◽  
Mark Mulrooney ◽  
Nora Holden ◽  
Elin Skurtveit ◽  
Jan Inge Faleide ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Fault Rock ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
The North ◽  
Major Fault ◽  
The North Sea

The maturation of geological CCS along the Norwegian Continental Shelf is ongoing in the Norwegian North Sea, however, more storage sites are needed to reach climate mitigation goals by 2050. In order to augment the Aurora site and expand CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, regional traps and seals must be assessed to better understand the area’s potential. Here, we leverage wellbore and seismic data to map storage aquifers, identify structural traps, and assess possible top and fault seals associated with Lower and Upper Jurassic storage complexes in four major fault blocks. With respect to trap and seal, our results maintain that both prospective intervals represent viable CO2 storage options in various locations of each fault block. Mapping, modeling, and formation pressure analyses indicate that top seals are present across the entire study area, and are sufficiently thick over the majority of structural traps. Across-fault juxtaposition seals are abundant, but dominate the Upper Jurassic storage complexes. Lower Jurassic aquifers, however, are often upthrown against Upper Jurassic aquifers, but apparent across fault pressure differentials and moderate to high shale gouge ratio values correlate, suggesting fault rock membrane seal presence. Zones of aquifer self-juxtaposition, however, are likely areas of poor seal along faults. Overall, our results provide added support that the northern Horda Platform represents a promising location for expanding CO2 storage in the North Sea, carrying the potential to become a future injection hub for CCS in northern Europe.

scholarly journals A Spatial Analysis of the Potentials for Offshore Wind Farm Locations in the North Sea Region: Challenges and Opportunities

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gusatu ◽  
Yamu ◽  
Zuidema ◽  
Faaij
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
The North ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The North Sea

Over the last decade, the accelerated transition towards cleaner means of producing energy has been clearly prioritised by the European Union through large-scale planned deployment of wind farms in the North Sea. From a spatial planning perspective, this has not been a straight-forward process, due to substantial spatial conflicts with the traditional users of the sea, especially with fisheries and protected areas. In this article, we examine the availability of offshore space for wind farm deployment, from a transnational perspective, while taking into account different options for the management of the maritime area through four scenarios. We applied a mixed-method approach, combining expert knowledge and document analysis with the spatial visualisation of existing and future maritime spatial claims. Our calculations clearly indicate a low availability of suitable locations for offshore wind in the proximity of the shore and in shallow waters, even when considering its multi-use with fisheries and protected areas. However, the areas within 100 km from shore and with a water depth above –120 m attract greater opportunities for both single use (only offshore wind farms) and multi-use (mainly with fisheries), from an integrated planning perspective. On the other hand, the decrease of energy targets combined with sectoral planning result in clear limitations to suitable areas for offshore wind farms, indicating the necessity to consider areas with a water depth below –120 m and further than 100 km from shore. Therefore, despite the increased costs of maintenance and design adaptation, the multi-use of space can be a solution for more sustainable, stakeholder-engaged and cost-effective options in the energy deployment process. This paper identifies potential pathways, as well as challenges and opportunities for future offshore space management with the aim of achieving the 2050 renewable energy targets.

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