The UK and US are to sign an agreement that will see them co-operate on the development of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies, including ‘floating’ wind turbines.

Energy Secretary Edward Davey and US Energy Secretary Steven Chu will sign the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on ‘Collaboration in Energy Related Fields’ at an international conference on clean energy to be held in London this week. The talks will see Energy Ministers from 23 countries gather to discuss accelerating the transition to clean energy technologies.

Floating turbines

Floating wind turbines are to be the initial focus of the new UK-US deal, which covers areas such as low carbon power generation, energy transmission and distribution and energy efficiency.

Work is already underway in the UK on a £25 million floating wind turbine demonstration project and the US Department of Energy recently announced a $180 million funding opportunity for up to four ‘Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects’, which potentially could include a floating wind demonstration.

“Floating wind turbines will allow us to exploit more of our wind resource, potentially more cheaply,” said Davey.

“The UK and US are both making funding available for this technology and we’re determined to work together to capitalise on this shared intent.”

The UK is a world leader in offshore wind and the Government has set a target to slash the cost of offshore wind from £175 megawatt hour (MWh) down to £100/MWh by 2020. It is thought turbines that float on the water, rather than being fixed to a pylon attached to the seabed, could bring down the cost of offshore wind and be higher yielding. They are designed to generate power in deep waters currently off limits to conventional turbines but where the wind is much stronger.

The UK wind floating system demonstrator aims to produce five to seven megawatts of energy and be up and running by 2016.

Other deals

This week’s Clean Energy Ministerial will also see bilateral cooperation agreements on clean energy signed between the UK and a number of other countries.

The two-day conference, to be held on April 26 and 27 will focus on 11 clean energy themes including energy efficiency, electric vehicles, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage, hydropower, solar, wind and smart grids.

Source: Green energy news