Offshore Wind Energy Review: The Potential for South Africa

Abstract

Over the past decades, the energy demand of the world has increased dramatically due to various contributing factors. Environmental impacts, policy, and wind resources impact the size of wind turbines located onshore. Offshore wind technology can play a key role in the decarbonization of coastal cities and assist the global transition towards cleaner electrical generation sources. The offshore wind energy industry has progressed significantly over the past decade due to a multitude of factors in the economic and technical sectors. Policy, regulations, and innovative financing aided the development of the offshore wind industry. Another contributing factor to the increase in deployment of offshore wind power has been the evolution of turbine size for the offshore wind turbine sector. The following study aims to review the key components of the offshore wind industry for a case study of South Africa. The study examines the differences between turbine configurations such as Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine(HAWT) and Vertical Axis Wind Turbine(VAWT)designs of turbines, foundation types, and potential electrical network topologies for South Africa.