Speaking to journalists at RenewableUK's Global Offshore Wind event in Manchester (21-22 June), Siemens Wind Power CEO Michael Hannibal teased a number of technical advancements.
"Size matters when we talk cost. This is also what will be the lever going toward 2025," he said.
"The current platform that we're working with now is the 6MW, 7MW, 8MW platform. Going towards 2025 there will be a new platform introduced. And as history has told, it will get bigger."
Pressed further on the new platform, Hannibal said: "It is not totally locked on the rotor size but a D10 would be good", suggesting the new platform would be 10MW or larger.
"What we need to see now is a period where we can do evolutions on the [6-8MW turbine] until the 2020s to get this one really efficient.
"A lot of people have tried to predict how big [turbines] can be and all of them have failed," he said. Hannibal also confirmed an 8MW+ Siemens turbine had been offered to the market.
Siemens said it has committed to reducing offshore wind costs to €80/MWh including connection costs by 2025. Hannibal said the target of €100/MWh will be met by 2020.
Foundations
Hannibal has also revealed Siemens is working on a new foundation type for offshore wind.
The new concept hybrid design incorporates a prefabricated jacket supporting a concrete gravity-base section and transition piece.
"We're combining gravity base... with the jackets. Then we have turned it upside down, putting the gravity part on top," Hannibal explained.
Siemens said the jacket grid structure would be built using prefabricated nodes and standard steel pipes in a bid to reduce costs.
It plans to install a prototype at the Nissum Bredning offshore wind project in Denmark in May 2017.
"Foundations haven't been as aggressive in innovation as turbines. Of course, we have looked at it to see how foundations could be industrialsed, and now we design them for industrial production," Hannibal explained.
