The Anonymous Widower

BW Ideol, ABP To Explore Serial Production Of Floating Wind Foundations At Port Talbot

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

BW Ideol and Associated British Ports (ABP) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will see the manufacturer of concrete floating wind foundations and ABP investigating the feasibility of serial production at Port Talbot. The MOU has been signed in preparation for the Celtic Sea leasing round, BW Ideol said on Monday (11 December).

These two paragraphs outline the plans of BW Ideol and ABP have for Port Talbot.

According to the company, Port Talbot is the only Celtic Sea port with the scale and technical capabilities to fully maximise the Celtic Sea supply chain opportunity and is ideally located as a manufacturing base since it lies 120-140 kilometres from the floating offshore wind areas outlined by The Crown Estate for the upcoming leasing round.

The news on the MOU between ABP and BW Ideol comes shortly after ABP announced plans to invest around GBP 500 million (approximately EUR 573 million) to upgrade a site in Port Talbot and turn it into a major floating offshore wind hub.

This Google Map shows Port Talbot Port.

Note.

1. It also looks like there is a Heidelberg Cement facility at the South side of the port.
2. Port Talbot also has a Tata steelworks.
3. The railway and the M4 Motorway are nearby.
4. There’s certainly a lot of water.

The port appears well-placed for raw materials and there is quite a bit of free space to build and launch the concrete floaters.

This page on the BW  Ideol web site describes their Floatgen demonstrator.

The first section is headed by BW Ideol’s First Floater In Operation, where this is said.

Built around a European consortium of 7 partners, Floatgen is a 2MW floating wind turbine demonstrator installed off the coast of Le Croisic on the offshore experimentation site of the Ecole Centrale de Nantes (SEM-REV). This project is being supported by the European Union as part of the FP7 programme. Floatgen is France’s first offshore wind turbine. 5 000 inhabitants are supplied with its electricity.

It looks like it is or almost is a proven system.

The page talks of two large benefits.

• Innovation at all levels.
• The highest local content of any floating wind turbine.

For the second, the following is said

In comparison to other steel floating foundations, which are imported from abroad, the use of concrete for BW Ideol’s floating foundation allows the construction to be located as close as possible to the deployment site. Construction at the Saint-Nazaire port was therefore a natural and optimal solution and has created a lot of local content. Additionally, the mooring system was manufactured by LeBéon Manufacturing in Brittany. For the majority of all other components or logistical activities, the Floatgen partners have also opted for suppliers within the Saint-Nazaire region.

Note.

1. Will ABP and BW Ideol use a similar philosophy at Port Talbot?
2. Will low-carbon concrete be used to construct the floaters?

I can certainly see the logic of BW Ideol and ABP getting together at Port Talbot.

December 12, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Energy | ABP, BW Ideol, Celtic Sea, Concrete, Crown Estate, Floatgen, Floating Wind Power, Offshore Wind Power, Port Talbot, Tata Steel, Wind Power