Wind power can make a significant contribution to Europe’s electricity needs and in so doing contribute to achieving the EU’s goal of climate neutrality. The EU proposes to increase offshore wind capacity significantly over the coming years – from its current level of 12 GW to 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050.

However, the cost of energy from offshore wind is higher than onshore installations due to more challenging construction and maintenance conditions. X-ROTOR a new research project funded under the EU Horizon 2020 programme (grant # 101007135) aims to directly address cost of energy reduction and scalability, through the developing a disruptive new offshore wind turbine concept.

Professor Bill Leithead, Project Lead stated: “The X-rotor is a radical new offshore wind turbine concept with the potential to significantly reduce the cost of wind power generation. On this EU funded project, a committed team of internationally leading experts will undertake an exemplar design to confirm its technical and economic feasibility.”

The X-ROTOR project runs for three years from January 2021, during which time the consortium will work to increase the technology readiness level of the X-ROTOR concept, to determine its economic, social and environmental impacts and to confirm its potential for a levelised costs of energy (LCOE) reduction.

The X-ROTOR project is led by University of Strathclyde (UK), working with Delft University of Technology (NL), University College Cork (IE), Fundacion Cener (ES), GE Renovables España (ES), and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO). Further information can be found on https://xrotor-project.eu