Offshore wind load factors in the UK are expected to increase to over 50% by 2035 from 39% to 47% currently, according to new research by DNV GL.
The report – ‘Potential to improve load factor of offshore wind farms in the UK to 2035’ – was conducted on behalf of the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The report said that improvements will be mainly down to larger and more efficient turbines and improved project design and operation.
DNV GL’s projections are based on a project with an average wind speed of 10 metres a second.
It said that for projects in locations with better wind resources load factors would be expected to be even higher.
BEIS said the aim of the research is gain a better understanding of technological learning rates of offshore wind.
“This will enable better predictions of the long-term energy production potential and load factor of UK offshore wind farms,” it said.
Load factor is the ratio of the amount of electricity produced by a wind farm to its total potential, based on nameplate capacity, over a period of time.
A copy of the report can be found here.