France’s First And Only Operational Floating Wind Turbine Gets Lifetime Extension
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Floatgen, the demonstration floating wind turbine installed at the SEM-REV offshore test site in France, has completed its planned five-year run but will operate for another five years as the demo project was decided to get a lifetime extension.
These are the first three paragraphs.
The floater, which consists of a 2 MW Vestas V80 wind turbine mounted on BW Ideol’s Damping Pool foundation, reached electricity production milestones several times since going into full operation in September 2018.
According to BW Ideol, Floatgen’s cumulated production has now surpassed 30 GWh, which the company ascribes to “the hydrodynamic properties and excellent sea-keeping capabilities” of its floating foundation.
Floatgen’s availability averaged 92.18 per cent between January 2021 and January 2024, with December 2023 standing out with a monthly production record of 922.026 MWh and a 61.96 per cent capacity factor, BW Ideol says.
Note.
- A three-year availability average of 92.18 % is surely very good.
- A 61.96 % capacity factor is better than most other floating wind farms, which are generally in the fifties.
With those figures, I suspect BW Ideol will be expecting, some orders soon.
This video shows a Floatgen being constructed.
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.
- It also looks like there is a Heidelberg Cement facility at the South side of the port.
- Port Talbot also has a Tata steelworks.
- The railway and the M4 Motorway are nearby.
- 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.
- Will ABP and BW Ideol use a similar philosophy at Port Talbot?
- 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.
World’s First Offshore Hydrogen Production Project Yields First Kilograms Of Green Hydrogen
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The offshore hydrogen production platform that Lhyfe is testing in France, named Sealhyfe, began producing its first kilograms of hydrogen on 20 June after it was towed last month to the SEM-REV offshore test site which is connected to BW Ideol’s floating wind turbine Floatgen.
These two paragraphs introduce the article.
Sealhyfe is capable of producing up to 400 kilograms of hydrogen per day.
With the start-of-production milestone now reached, the platform has entered the second phase of testing, which focuses on producing hydrogen in offshore conditions, after eight months of being tested at a quay in the Port of Saint-Nazaire, starting in September 2022.
The setup features a 1 MW electrolyser.
This may only be a small start, but I do feel that we’ll see more offshore hydrogen production.
According to Lhyfe And Centrica To Develop Offshore Renewable Green Hydrogen In The UK, Centrica and Lhyfe seem to be co-operating.
It should be noted that this year, I’ve written seven posts involving Offshore Hydrogen Production.
The Anonymous Widower 