The Met Office has announced the launch of its renewable energy services in Germany.
Increasing uptake of its renewables offerings in targeted European countries is a key growth objective for the Met Office, which continues to increase its market share in the UK.
The German market is set to see a dramatic shift towards offshore activity. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, by 2020 installed onshore wind capacity is predicted to increase by 40% to reach 45,000MW, whilst offshore capacity will increase by 1,460% to 6,000MW.
The larger 6-8MW turbine capacities and higher wind speeds are a driving force in Germany’s offshore wind farm construction and operations activity. According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study, turnover across the whole offshore value chain, from planning and building to operations and maintenance, is expected to grow to €22.4m in 2021 from €5.9m in 2010, an increase of 280% in turnover in 10 years.
With its portfolio of products and services the Met Office hopes to provide a solution to some of the challenges faced in the German marketplace, including construction methods, high capital expenditure, operational costs and future feed in tariffs and EU targets.
Met Office Head of Renewables, Michelle Spillar , says, “This is an exciting time for us and a key strand of our commercial business development strategy. In Germany our focus will be on development, operations and maintenance. We also expect our seasonal forecasting capabilities to play a prominent role.”
Products to be launched in Germany will include Met Office Virtual Met Mast™, Virtual Met Mast Plus™ Virtual Met Mast™ Time Series, VisualEyes™, Safesee™ and Wind Production Forecast – all solutions for site screening, development and operations.