Three months ago Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands pledged to jointly have at least 150GW of offshore wind generation capacity by 2050, capable of covering half of the total aimed capacity for the entire European Union of 300GW. During the North Sea Summit in Esbjerg, several sector experts, among them Giles Dickson CEO of WindEurope, expressed their excitement about the project, however, pointed out that in order for the plan to be fruitful, the wind energy supply chain needs investment and modifications since “Europe’s 5 turbine manufacturers are all operating at a loss”.
With elevated costs, REPowerEU, the EU Commission’s plan to end European dependence on Russian fossil fuels, however ambitious, may not be as effective as hoped. Youwind Renewables tools’ may be a defining factor in making that aim a reality, culminating in a capacity of 65GW by 2030 and 150GW by 2050.
Youwind’s disruptive IT tools, merging engineering, technology, and finance are capable of assisting the development of offshore wind farm projects from early-stage screening to tender acquisition and beyond with full layout and installation planning optimization.
Youwind Model allows users to optimize the financials for any new offshore wind farm project globally, all the while maintaining the technical functions comprehensive and user-friendly, by utilizing Youwind’s Intelligence Market Library, which stores technical and cost information for more than 1000 existing offshore wind farms. In order for the 150GW goal to be met, as much knowledge as there is on offshore wind needs to be considered, and Youwind ensures that is the case.
Moreover, given the harsh conditions encountered in the North Sea, with the water reaching an average of 1.2°C during the winter months, Youwind’s Optiwindow optimizes installation costs, duration, and weather downtime of installation activities by integrating ocean data, hindmost weather data and the Youwind library, further streamlining the development process.
Finally, Youwind’s Pixel software provides an interactive visualization platform that accelerates the early-stage screening when developing an offshore wind farm. Utilizing GIS, Pixel is capable of determining and optimizing the best areas designated for an offshore wind farm, taking into account the CAPEX/OPEX of the venture, and projected IRR, among many other factors, that as developments occur in the North Sea will be fundamental to a sustainable and effective progression towards the REPower EU goals.
