Cost of energy for offshore wind turbines with different drive train types

Abstract

Drive train configurations differ in many of the modern MW scale wind turbines available. These differences occur from manufacturer to manufacturer and even within a single manufactures own portfolio. The wind energy industry aims to reduce the cost of ene rgy (CoE) for offshore wind turbines to make it cost competitive with ot her forms of energy generation (gas, coal, onshore wind etc.) This paper aims to assist with t hat CoE reduction by modelling four wind turbine types with different drive trains to dete rmine which turbine type offers the lowest CoE.