Multi-rotor systems : can they increase economy-wide benefits compared to traditional designs?

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Williamson, Jack and Connolly, Kevin and Allan, Grant (2025) Multi-rotor systems : can they increase economy-wide benefits compared to traditional designs? Wind Energy, 28 (8). e70045. ISSN 1099-1824 (https://doi.org/10.1002/we.70045)

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Abstract

This short communication reports on the economic consequences of increasing the market share of potentially lower-cost offshore wind designs. We use data on the projected levelised cost of energy (LCOE) for traditional horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) designs compared with an illustrative multi-rotor system which could have lower costs. Relative cost reductions are then introduced as improvements in productivity within the offshore wind generation sector in a computable general equilibrium model, exploring the economy-wide impacts of different market share scenarios. We find that, due to its potentially lower LCOE, increasing the share of multi-rotor designs in the United Kingdom would produce positive macroeconomic impacts, in terms of GDP and employment. Our findings suggest that there is merit in considering multi-rotor wind systems as part of a future energy strategy, and a methodology by which the economic outcomes of any potentially lower-cost technologies might be demonstrated.

ORCID iDs

Williamson, Jack ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2043-7847, Connolly, Kevin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2333-2211 and Allan, Grant ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1404-2768;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)