The true cost of offshore wind (and its crisis): what can we learn?

Rosie Barnes is an Australian PhD working in the renewable energy sector. This video discusses some of the advantages, costs, and engineering/economic challenges off-shore wind turbines feature.

We hear a lot about LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity), but I was interested to learn about the economic but non-LCOE advantages of off-shore wind too, including potentially higher generation capacity factor (more consistent generation) and reduced cost of transmission infrastructure. And of course there are situational benefits as she discusses.

I thought Barnes' comment at the end was useful:

I think with renewable energy, we've maybe gotten a little bit too used to constantly decreasing prices ensuring project profitability without having to think about much else (or do proper risk analyses).

When the entire industry stops and starts like it has been recently, it has a really harmful effect on everyone involved. If it's going to move fast, a new industry like offshore wind needs certainty to get the supply chains secured, ports upgraded, ships built, and a workforce trained.

I wish she had talked a little more about the various kinds of installation bases (I hadn't heard of some of these, like the gravity one) but there is limited time with these videos.