New research documents the reduction in the time to install offshore wind farms

New research by the JRC and the University of Saragossa (Spain) documents the reduction in the installation time of offshore wind farms from 2000 to 2017.

The research found that installation times for wind farms with monopile foundations were reduced from just below 4 days per MW in 2000–2003 to 1.06 days per MW in 2016–2017, a 71% reduction.

This reduction is mostly caused by improvements in the installation of the foundations. Foundation installation times per megawatt has improved by 87%, significantly more than turbine installation per MW (55%). However, the biggest effect was achieved by the increase in the size of individual turbines (to 8.25?MW at Walney 3) and the corresponding increase in foundations size and reduction in the number of foundations and turbines for the same given wind farm capacity.

This research found that the effect of economies of scale, measured based on wind farm size, was not significant in reducing the installation time for either foundations or turbines.