据海事新闻10月29日消息称，国际能源署（IEA）的一份新报告预测，在成本下降、政府政策支持和“一些显著的技术进步”的推动下，全球海上风能产业将在未来20年内“显著扩张”。

IEA表示，到2040年，全球海上风力发电能力可能增加15倍，累计吸引约1万亿美元的投资。

IEA表示，海上石油和天然气行业可能会从中受益。

IEA表示：“石油和天然气行业公司存在巨大的商机，可以利用他们的海上专业知识。据估计，海上风力发电项目包括建设和维护在内的40%的周期成本与海上石油和天然气行业有显著的协同效应。”

“这意味着未来20年在欧洲和中国将有4000亿美元或更多的市场机会。”

IEA执行董事Fatih Birol在一份声明中说，目前海上风力发电仅占全球发电总量的0.3%，但其潜力巨大。

他说:“越来越多的潜力即将实现，但政府和工业界仍需做大量工作，使其成为清洁能源转型的主体。”

IEA表示，海上风力发电的巨大前景可以通过开发可在更远的海上部署的浮动涡轮机得到体现。

“从理论上讲，它们可以使海上风能满足欧洲、美国和日本等几个关键电力市场的全部电力需求。”

IEA表示，欧洲是海上风能技术的先驱，该地区将成为未来风能发展的动力源泉。

IEA表示“如今，欧盟的海上风力发电能力接近20吉瓦。按照目前的政策设定，到2040年，这一数字将升至近130吉瓦然而，如果欧盟实现其碳中和目标，到2040年，海上风力发电能力将跃升至约180吉瓦，成为该地区最大的单一电力来源。”

中国还将在减少空气污染的努力推动下，在海上风电的长期增长中发挥重要作用。IEA表示：“该技术在中国特别具有吸引力，因为海上风力发电场可以建在中国东部和南部的主要人口中心附近。”

IEA表示，政府和监管机构“可以通过提供长期愿景，鼓励行业和投资者承担开发海上风电项目所需的主要投资，并将它们与陆地电网连接起来，从而为海上风电的发展铺平道路。

同样，“行业需要继续快速发展该技术，以使风力涡轮机的规模和发电能力不断增长，从而实现突出的性能和成本的降低，从而使海上风力发电更具竞争力。”

曹海斌 摘译自 海事新闻

原文如下：

‘Huge’ business opportunities for offshore oil and gas sector in offshore wind: IEA

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts the global offshore wind industry will “expand impressively” over the next two decades, driven by falling costs, supportive government policies and “some remarkable technological progress.”

The IEA said that global offshore wind capacity may increase 15-fold and attract around $1 trillion of cumulative investment by 2040.

Benefiting from that significantly could be the offshore oil and gas industry, the IEA said.

“Huge business opportunities exist for oil and gas sector companies to draw on their offshore expertise. An estimated 40 percent of the lifetime costs of an offshore wind project, including construction and maintenance, have significant synergies with the offshore oil and gas sector,” the IEA said.

“That translates into a market opportunity of US$400 billion or more in Europe and China over the next two decades.”

Offshore wind currently provides just 0.3 percent of global power generation, but its potential is vast, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement.

“More and more of that potential is coming within reach, but much work remains to be done by governments and industry for it to become a mainstay of clean energy transitions,” he said.

The huge promise of offshore wind is underscored by the development of floating turbines that could be deployed further out at sea, the IEA said.

“In theory, they could enable offshore wind to meet the entire electricity demand of several key electricity markets several times over, including Europe, the United States and Japan.”

Europe has pioneered offshore wind technology, and the region is positioned to be the powerhouse of its future development, the IEA said.

“Today, offshore wind capacity in the European Union stands at almost 20 gigawatts. Under current policy settings, that is set to rise to nearly 130 gigawatts by 2040. However, if the European Union reaches its carbon-neutrality aims, offshore wind capacity would jump to around 180 gigawatts by 2040 and become the region’s largest single source of electricity,” the IEA said.

China is also set to play a major role in offshore wind’s long-term growth, driven by efforts to reduce air pollution. “The technology is particularly attractive in China because offshore wind farms can be built near the major population centres spread around the east and south of the country,” the IEA said.

The IEA said that governments and regulators “can clear the path ahead for offshore wind’s development by providing the long-term vision that will encourage industry and investors to undertake the major investments required to develop offshore wind projects and link them to power grids on land.”

As well, “industry needs to continue the rapid development of the technology so that wind turbines keep growing in size and power capacity, which in turn delivers the major performance and cost reductions that enables offshore wind to become more competitive with gas-fired power and onshore wind.”