Introduction to Offshore Renewables

Offshore Renewables

The reduction of fossil fuels and the continuously increasing demand for energy, in parallel with the necessity for sustainable clean energy have established the renewable energy sector as one of the most promising and developing as far as energy production is concerned. In the United Kingdom during 2013, renewable sources provided for 14.9% of the total electricity generated, reaching 53.7 TWh [1], while in the second quarter of 2015, renewable electricity penetration exceeded that of coal generation for the first time when it reached 25% [2].

Offshore wind in the UK represents a substantial portion of the total renewable energy produced in 2013, at approximately 21% [1], and this trend is only showing signs of further expansion as last year it increased by 52% [1]. Furthermore, the marine renewable energy sector has been heavily researched in the last decade as marine resources, especially in the form of waves, are enormous.

The significant wind and wave resources and their synergy [3] has attracted researchers and industry to work on the development and deployment of new survivable, cost-effective devices and methods. The wind energy market trends undoubtedly indicate that a big and decisive step will be made the following years towards deep waters [4] far from shore [5] where the wind-wave collaboration is optimum. Floating wind and wave energy extraction devices and platforms are inextricable parts of this intention.