Windfloat News

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released its Offshore Wind Energy Strategy, a first of its kind, comprehensive summary of the Department’s efforts to meet President Biden’s goal to deploy 30GW of offshore wind energy by 2030.The strategy aims to set the nation on a pathway to 110GW or more by 2050.Deploying 30GW of offshore wind would provide enough power for 10 million homes, support 77,000 jobs, and spur $12 billion per year in direct private investment, says the DOE.The…

Five developers selected to build the first floating wind farms in U.S. federal watersTo support the California Energy Commission’s planning goals of 2-5 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045 as well as a federal target to deploy 15 GW of floating wind by 2035, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has concluded the auction date for five 33-year leases offshore California. Exhibit 1 summarizes the outcome of the auction and estimates the potential of the lease areas using BOEMs standard power density formula of 3 MW per square kilometer…

French offshore vessel services firm Bourbon has set up a new division dedicated to offshore wind called Bourbon Wind, which will support the group's ambition to become a major player in the entire value chain: pre-studies,  transport and installation services, field maintenance, floaters repair, and personnel transport. Bourbon Wind will coordinate all the group's activities in the offshore wind field, creating important cross-functional synergies:  Bourbon Subsea Services for development studies…

Ocean Winds, a partnership between ENGIE and EDP Renewables, and Principle Power, a designer of floating wind turbine foundations, will cooperate to design the floating platforms for France’s first commercial-scale floating wind tender.In September this year, the French Government selected Ocean Winds to participate in the tender process.The duo has successfully delivered the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic floating wind farm project currently operating in Portugal and the companies…

Kincardine floating offshore wind farm, located 15 km off the coast of Aberdeenshire, is now fully operational, Principle Power, a company that designed the 50MW wind farm's semi-submersible foundations, said Tuesday.The project, the world's largest of the type, consists of five Vestas V164-9.5 MW and one V80-2 MW turbine, each installed on WindFloat semi-submersible platforms designed by Principle Power. The Kincardine project was initiated in 2014 by Allan MacAskill and Lord Nicol Stephen, now both directors of Flotation Energy plc.

Dutch marine and offshore services provider Boskalis said this week it has completed the installation of the fifth and final floating wind turbine at the Kincardine floating wind farm off the UK, currently the world's largest floating wind farm."Last week we successfully connected the fifth and last floating wind turbine to the pre-installed mooring spread in the field offshore Aberdeen," the company said in a social media post on Thursday."This marks the finalization of an impressive transport and installation project within the emerging floating wind industry.

Offshore wind currently represents just a small piece of the world’s energy supply. But that’s changing faster than ever before as new and existing players look to tap the huge resource potential—and market opportunities—being unlocked by shrinking costs and technological advances, as outlined in a recent comprehensive market report.In the coming two decades, the rapidly maturing offshore wind market is expected to become a trillion-dollar business as the pace of installed capacity growth accelerates…

The third - and final - floating wind turbine has been towed offshore as part of the Windfloat Atlantic project, located 20 km from Viana do Castelo on the Portuguese coast. The project, dubbed the first floating offshore wind farm in continental Europe, is operated by the Windplus consortium, consisting of EDP Renováveis (54.4%), Engie (25%), Repsol (19.4%) and Principle Power Inc. (1.2%). Bourbon Subsea Services is responsible for the towing and the connection of the 8.4 MW floating wind turbine supplied by MHI Vestas.With the support of three vessels (the Bourbon Orca AHTS…

The provider of ship drydocking, repair and refit services in Greece Chalkis Shipyards S.A. has formed a collaboration with National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (HCMR).The “WIndfloat.gr – Innovative Design of Floating Wind Plants for the Greek Seas” project seeks to exploit the wind potential of the Greek seas.WIndfloat.Gr seeks to exploit the wind potential of the Greek seas with the objective of significantly increasing the penetration of Renewable Energy Sources in Energy Production, thus helping the country achieve its ‘Green Energy” goals.Specifically, the project concerns the development…

The second of the three platforms for the WindFloat Atlantic project has left the Port of Ferrol for its final destination 20 kilometers offshore Viana do Castelo, Portugal.Upon arrival to the project site, it will be installed next to the first floating platform, which has the exact same dimensions: 30 meters in height and with a 50-meter distance between each column. The third and final platform, once it arrives to the site, will complete the first floating offshore wind farm in Continental Europe.Transportation of the three WindFloat Atlantic floating structures is a milestone in itself, as it sidesteps the need for towing craft designed specifically for this process and makes it possible for the project to be replicated in other geographies.The structure…

UK's developer and supplier of connectors, First Subsea has delivered a beach landing Cable Protection System for the export cables on the 25MW WindFloat Atlantic project, located 20 kilometers off the coast of Viana do Castelo in Portugal. Hengtong Group was contracted through its Submarine Business Units to deliver the export cable for the beach export system which was installed on schedule by its contractor DeepOcean at the end of June 2019.The cable protection system is designed to suit the export cable and consists of clamps, bellmouth and cable protection. First Subsea project manager Ross Carrington said: “With the close cooperation and support of our client DeepOcean…

California Dreamin': In CA, offshore wind has unlimited potentialWhen it comes to States promoting renewable, non-fossil electricity generation, California surely leads the list, from utility-scale regional grids to individual rooftop solar panels.In fact, a December 2018 update from the California Energy Commission (CEC) estimates the state may already have exceeded an initial renewable generation goal of 33% by 2020. CEC estimates that in 2018 that generation number was already 34%.

Offshore renewable energy is gaining investment support in the United States, particularly on the east coast. While the U.S. is a full generation behind its European counterparts in tapping the wind as an energy source, if current plans come to fruition it could gain ground quickly. Recently we spoke with Astrid Skarheim Onsum, SVP, Head of Wind Aker Solutions, for her view on the path ahead and the growing role and promising future of ‘floating wind.’Please give an overview of your responsibilities as SVP…

Norwegian oil and gas specialist Aker Solutions has invested in floating wind power technology company Principle Power, with the aim to brings its offshore oil and gas field engineering experience to the renewable energy market. Aker Solutions has an extensive track record in developing offshore oil and gas fields, with particular capabilities in floating facilities. The partnership will help bring Principle Power's technology - an innovative floating foundation for offshore wind turbines, known as WindFloat - to a broader market. "We see a major opportunity in offshore floating wind where demand is growing in the transition to a low-carbon future," said Aker Solutions Chief Executive Officer Luis Araujo.

Bureau Veritas has published a set of guidelines, NI 631 “Certification Scheme for Marine Renewable Energy Technologies”, addressing a broad spectrum of the needs of marine renewable energy (MRE) businesses and projects. ‘The marine renewables sector is growing in importance and the complexities are increasing as the sector continues to mature’, comments Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice President, Offshore, Bureau Veritas. ‘Bureau Veritas is taking a broad leadership position in the development of cleaner energy projects and technologies in the marine and offshore environments.

Leading international classification society Bureau Veritas has issued Approval in Principle for the WindFloat Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) foundation. WindFloat is designed by Principle Power and consists of a ballasted floating platform which supports a multi-megawatt wind turbine generator. Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and Head of Offshore, Bureau Veritas, says, “FOWT technology will help exploit clean renewable offshore wind power. It offers substantial advantages over fixed offshore wind turbines as the entire unit can be assembled ashore and FOWTs can be installed in deep water and areas with varied underwater landscapes. There is also a much lower environmental impact from their installation.

As part of the Obama Administration's Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop domestic clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced today that it is seeking public comment as it prepares an Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze potential impacts of a proposed wind energy demonstration project offshore the coast of Oregon. Principle Power, Inc. (Principle Power) has requested a wind energy commercial lease from BOEM. The company proposes to design, develop and demonstrate a grid-connected, 30-megawatt (MW) offshore wind pilot demonstration project on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Coos Bay, Oregon.

As a part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the U.S. Energy Department today announced the selection of three pioneering offshore wind demonstrations to receive up to $47 million each over the next four years to deploy innovative, grid-connected systems in federal and state waters by 2017. These projects – located off the coast of New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia – will help speed the deployment of more efficient offshore wind power technologies. Building…

On the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union address where he laid out actions to move the economy toward clean energy sources, reduce carbon pollution and create jobs, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell has announced an important step forward for the first offshore wind project proposed for federal waters off the West Coast. Governor John Kitzhaber and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau joined Jewell to announce that BOEM has given the green light for Principle Power, Inc.

Renewable energy technology developer, Principle Power, was awarded a Department of Energy grant worth $4M and up to $47M in total funding, to support its WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project. Principle Power has announced the list of official project partners, all marked to deliver essential contributions to the WindFloat project. The list of project partners include MacArtney Underwater Technology, Siemens Wind Power, Houston Offshore Engineering, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory…

The Commission has awarded over €1.2 billion to 23 innovative renewable energy technology (RES) projects. The projects cover a wide range of renewable energy technologies from bioenergy (including advanced biofuels), concentrated solar power and geothermal power to wind power, ocean energy and distributed renewable management (smart grids). The projects will be hosted in 16 EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The project comprises a floating offshore 26 MW wind farm located 50 km from Marseille. Thirteen wind turbines will be installed on 13 moored floating structures which will transfer power to an onshore substation connected to the grid.

Classification society ABS has provided certification services for the design, fabrication and installation for the first WindFloat facility. The WindFloat Aguçadoura unit is a 2 MW floating wind turbine moored in slightly less than 50 m water depth 4 km offshore the northern Portuguese coast. The WindFloat project is the first offshore wind deployment in the world that did not require heavy lift equipment offshore. Final assembly and pre-commissioning took place in a controlled shoreside environment. This installation also is the first deployment of a semisubmersible structure supporting a commercial size wind turbine. ABS design review…

After interviewing over 100 offshore wind experts working in the North Sea and surrounding oceans, Wind Energy Update has collated the results to give the industry the latest market data. It is well known that the North Sea and Baltics all provide excellent conditions for offshore wind projects, and Europe is far advanced in providing government incentives to the industry. However, with the lack of grid access and projects moving further from shore and into deeper water the offshore wind market here presents large liabilities for developers but a potentially lucrative market for contractors. Developments progressed slower in 2011 than in 2010 with only 788.1 MW of additional offshore wind capacity installed as opposed to 1139.9 MW in 2010…