A deep dive to the decommissioning of Borssele 1+2 offshore wind farm

Abstract

Offshore wind is playing a crucial role to the energy transition worldwide with the power capacity installed annually being increased exponentially. Several countries rush to develop offshore wind projects to meet their energy targets to comply with the different climate convention’s agreements without looking into the after-operations period. This forces project developers to secure unrealistic budgets for decommissioning works and paying excessive bank guarantees. This study firstly analyses the current framework under which a project developer could apply for a permit for decommissioning works and the available market knowledge for this kind of activities. Subsequently, evaluates the process of decommissioning an offshore wind farm and tries to optimise it wherever possible and allowed by the regulations. Efficiency and effectiveness are the main objectives of all involved stakeholders while the regulatory, environmental, health and safety and public acceptance requirements will be respected. A project team is composed, roles and responsibilities are assigned to be able to accomplish such a demanding assignment. Finally, a budget estimation following a selected decommissioning strategy is made showing that the initial budget estimation could be reduced by 20% when the processes are optimised and agreements are made with the government. All data generated and analysed during this study can be provided upon request.