Storage is likely to play a far lesser role in offshore wind than in other renewable energy sectors as technology struggles to deal with the huge levels of power generated by turbines at sea, according to senior executives at a major developer and OEM.

E.ON Climate and Renewables chief operating officer Sven Utermohlen and Thomas Karst, chief sales officer at MHI Vestas, told an industry conference that available technical solutions are well short of what would be needed to play a meaningful role in conjunction with offshore wind farms.