MANY MINDEDA New Installation Ship Pushes Offshore Wind Costs Down Again
The Chinese shipyard COSCO in Qidong has completed a new offshore wind installation vessel, the Wind Ace, commissioned by the Danish company Cadeler and announced in a press release dated July 17, 2026. It is Cadeler's second A-class vessel, built specifically to install the very large turbines now defining the sector. The ship will work on ScottishPower Renewables' East Anglia TWO project in the UK, which comprises 64 turbines and their foundations. Wind Ace brings Cadeler's fleet to 11 vessels, with a 12th, Apex Wind, expected next year.
The specialized ships matter because installation is one of the harder bottlenecks in offshore wind. Turbines have grown fast: ten years ago the first US commercial units were 6 megawatts each, while current analysis references 18-megawatt machines. Energy Solutions Intelligence, drawing on 247 projects across 18 countries, put new offshore wind at $40-50/MWh in 2026 — competitive with natural gas and cheaper than new coal.
Cheaper installation and larger turbines compound into cheaper clean electricity, the input behind nearly every other need. US DOE modeling projects fixed-bottom offshore LCOE falling to $53/MWh by 2035 and floating turbines dropping from $207 to $64/MWh.
Worth watching: whether O&M costs, nearly a third of the per-kWh total, come down too. Note the figures here are forecasting-model and analytics-firm estimates, not audited outcomes, and the original piece is framed as opinion commentary.
Source: CleanTechnica