Wind farms could save millions of dollars in energy costs – study
An offshore wind farm could generate savings of between $15.8m and $17.9m per year according to a feasibility study.
According to an independent review conducted by BVG Associates and released by environmental charity Greenrock, a 60MW farm could generate up to 40 per cent of Bermuda’s electricity at about 30 per cent less than the cost of the heavy fuel oil used at present.
The report said: “The purpose of this document is to help Bermuda reach net zero by providing a levelised cost of energy assessment of offshore wind.
“It was commissioned as a follow up to our previous report Bermuda Offshore Wind: Key Publications Review and Priority Actions, dated April 2022, which suggested that one of the key uncertainties to address in considering whether offshore wind makes sense for Bermuda related to LCOE.”
It added: “Bermuda has a typical power consumption of 50 to 100 megawatts. Historically, Bermuda has used fossil fuels to generate most its electricity but also uses some small-scale renewables with about 13MW of solar photovoltaic.
“It does not have the available landside area to meet its electricity demand with onshore renewables – there is space for approximately 84MW of solar PV, which would meet a quarter of electricity demand.
“Offshore wind, however, presents an opportunity for Bermuda to vastly increase its share of renewable energy generation, with a relatively small 60MW installation able to meet about 40 per cent of electricity demand.”
• Electricity cost from offshore wind is likely to range from $0.152 to $0.158/kWh. Based on our own analysis of Belco’s current cost, at the point of generation, this is about 30 per cent cheaper than generating electricity from fuel oil.
• An offshore wind farm could generate between 3,700 and 3,853 MWh/MW. We have calculated that for a 60MW wind farm this would work out to about 40 per cent of Bermuda's electricity supply.
. Using information from the report, we have calculated potential savings from a 60MW offshore wind farm at $15.8m to $17.9m/year at current prices.
• The report includes a detailed cost breakdown to help us understand how sensitive the electricity cost projections are when applied to different scenarios.
. Upcoming studies on spatial planning and the desktop wind resource assessment should further increase confidence in the projected energy costs.
Greenrock said a spatial assessment was in progress, which would be completed in “a number of weeks”.
The charity said: “After completing an independent review of work carried out to date a few months ago, Greenrock is pleased to announce the release of an offshore wind detailed cost of energy assessment, which has been designed to help us determine, with confidence, the likely range of costs for electricity delivered by an offshore wind farm in Bermuda.”
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