Exploitation of the far-offshore wind energy resource by fleets of energy ships. Part B. Cost of energy

Abstract. This paper deals with a new concept for the conversion of far-offshore wind energy into sustainable fuel. It relies on autonomous sailing energy ships and manned support tankers. Energy ships are wind-propelled ships that generate electricity using water turbines attached underneath their hull. Since energy ships are not grid-connected, they include onboard power-to-X plants for storage of the produced energy. In the present work, the energy vector is methanol.

In the first part of this study (Babarit et al., submitted), an energy ship design has been proposed and its energy performance has been assessed. In this second part, the aim is to estimate the energy and economic performance of the whole system. Thus, an energy and economic model has been developed which is presented in the paper. Results show that an initial FARWIND system could produce approximately 100,000 tonnes of methanol per annum (approximately 550 GWh per annum of chemical energy) at a cost in the range 150 to 325 €/MWh, and that FARWIND-produced methanol could compete with gasoline on the EU transportation fuel market in the long term.