Lazard's figures are junk. They say that the capital cost of offshore wind is $3.6m/MW. Recent UK units are costing £4m/MW, so say 25% more than Lazard claim. (And there is only one offshore windfarm in the US, which was more expensive still). They say maintenance is $79k/MW, so perhaps £70k. Recent UK units are spending double that.
Are We Nearly There Yet?
Lazard's figures are junk. They say that the capital cost of offshore wind is $3.6m/MW. Recent UK units are costing £4m/MW, so say 25% more than Lazard claim. (And there is only one offshore windfarm in the US, which was more expensive still). They say maintenance is $79k/MW, so perhaps £70k. Recent UK units are spending double that.
It's a complete fiction.
Another very interesting analysis, much of which corresponds to our findings. See https://www.our-energy-future.com.
Spot on Chris. When I headed up analysis at Energy Research Partnership I did some calculations on just 2012 data that showed UK would need >= 8TWh in a fully wind/PV system (https://erpuk.org/project/managing-flexibility-of-the-electricity-sytem/). Similarly I've looked at Australia and the NEM needs 10TWh for 100% VRE, reducing to 7 TWh if they interconnect the States perfectly. Reducing the requirement for reneawbles by just a few % dramatically reduces need for storage, but entails building a thermal backup system for wind droughts. (https://modelling.energy/publications/pdf/Boston_2022_Environ._Res._Commun._4_031001.pdf)
Excellent analyses Chris. Well done.