UK Ports Need GBP 4 Billion Investment To Help Unleash Floating Offshore Wind Industry – Report
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
A new report by the Floating Wind Offshore Wind Taskforce says up to eleven ports around the UK will need to be transformed as fast as possible into new industrial hubs to enable the roll-out of floating offshore wind at scale
This is the first paragraph.
The report contains a series of recommendations which could see 34 GW of floating wind installed in UK waters by 2040 if the country’s government takes swift and decisive action. At present Ministers have set a target of 5 GW by 2030.
What a lorra lorra lot of wind! (With apologies to Cilla!)
Welsh Government Greenlights Erebus Floating Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Welsh Government has granted consent for the country’s first floating offshore wind farm located 40 kilometres off the coast of Pembrokeshire
This is the first paragraph.
Project Erebus will feature seven next-generation 14 MW turbines on floating platforms, providing enough renewable energy to power 93,000 homes.
This near 100 MW project is the first in the Celtic Sea, where there 4 GW are to be installed in the next decade.
This is another paragraph.
Future phases of the development could realise an additional 20 GW of renewable energy, according to the Government.
Wales is not going to be short of energy!
X1 Wind’s Floating Prototype Delivers First Power Offshore Canary Islands
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
X1 Wind has announced that its floating offshore wind turbine prototype delivered first power to PLOCAN’s smart grid in the Canary Islands, Spain.
The article is based on this news item from X1 Wind, which is entitled X1 Wind’s X30 Floating Wind Prototype Delivers First kWh, which starts with these two paragraphs.
X1 Wind has announced today (MARCH 07) that its X30 floating wind prototype, installed in the Canary Islands, successfully produced its first kWh.
The milestone marks the world’s only floating wind platform currently installed with a TLP mooring system, which dramatically reduces the environmental footprint and improves compatibility with other sea uses. It further heralds Spain’s first floating wind prototype to export electricity via a subsea cable.
Note.
- TLP is short for tension leg platform, which is described in this Wikipedia entry.
- The TLP Wikipedia entry contains a section, which describes their use with wind turbines.
- TLPs have been in use for over forty years, with the first use in the Hutton field in the North Sea.
- TLPs work well for water depths of between 300 and 1,500 metres.
I also suspect there’s a lot of experience from the oil and gas industry around the world about how to deploy TLPs.
The X1 Wind news item also has this paragraph.
The novel X30 platform is equipped with a specially adapted V29 Vestas turbine and ABB power converter. Another key design feature, developed through the EU-backed PivotBuoy Project, combines advantages of SPM and TLP mooring systems. The proprietary SPM design enables the floater to ‘weathervane’ passively and maximise energy yields, with an electrical swivel ensuring electricity transfer without cable twisting. The TLP mooring system also dramatically reduces the seabed footprint, compared to traditional designs proposing catenary mooring lines, minimizing environmental impact while maximizing compatibility with other sea uses, in addition to its suitability to move into deeper waters.
SPM is short for single point mooring, which is described in this Wikipedia entry, where this is the first sentence.
A Single buoy mooring (SrM) (also known as single-point mooring or SPM) is a loading buoy anchored offshore, that serves as a mooring point and interconnect for tankers loading or offloading gas or liquid products. SPMs are the link between geostatic subsea manifold connections and weathervaning tankers. They are capable of handling any tonnage ship, even very large crude carriers (VLCC) where no alternative facility is available.
Note.
- The use of the weathervane in both paragraphs.
- If an SPM can handle a VLCC, it surely can handle a well-designed floating structure with a wind turbine mounted on top.
- I suspect that an SPM used for a wind turbine will be much simpler than one used to load or unload a gas or oil tanker.
As with TLPs, I also suspect there’s a lot of experience from the oil and gas industry, from around the world about how to deploy SPMs.
It looks to me, that X1 Wind have used the proven attributes of SPMs and TLPs to create a simple mooring for a wind turbine, that is designed to align itself with the wind.
X1 Wind Are Open With Their Technology
Today’s news item from X1 Wind also links to two other useful documents.
- X1 Wind Adaptation Of A Vestas V29 Turbine To Downwind Configuration
- X1 Wind Successfully Installs Floating Wind Platform In Spain
They are certainly open with their information.
The news item, also includes this video.
Thoughts
These are some thoughts.
Capacity Factor
The capacity factor of this wind turbine could be an interesting figure.
As the turbine constantly will turn to be downwind, this should maximise the amount of electricity produced over a period of time.
Tetrahedrons
The design is effectively a tetrahedron.
Alexander Graham Bell knew a lot about the properties of tetrahedrons and invented the tetrahedral kite.
This document details Bell’s involvement with tetrahedrons and says this.
Bell found the tetrahedron to have a very good strength to weight ratio.
Put more simply this means that an object is structurally very strong but at the same time very lightweight.
So X1 Wind’s design is probably extremely strong for its weight.
Large Turbines
X1 Wind’s prototype uses a wind turbine of only 225 KW.
Manufacturers are building 15 or 16 MW turbines now and talking of 20 MW in the next few years.
Given the strength of the tetrahedron, I wonder, if it will be possible to build a PivotBuoy, that is capable of hosting a 20 MW wind turbine?
Conclusion
Although it appears radical, it uses proven technology to generate power in an innovative way.
In some ways the thinking behind the design of this floating technology, is a bit like that of Issigonis in his design for the first Mini, where he took proven technology and arranged it differently to perform better.
Surveys Completed For Celtic Sea Floating Offshore Wind Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
N-Sea Group has finished a series of benthic and geophysical surveys for Llŷr 1 and Llŷr 2 floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.
I described the two projects in detail in Two More Floating Wind Projects In The Celtic Sea.
- At least the surveys are complete and it still appears that a commissioning date of 2026/27 is still feasible for these twin 100 MW projects.
- In the original documents, it was stated that there would be six next generation turbines in each wind farm, with a capacity of between 12 and 20 MW.
- There appears to be no decision on the floats or turbine size to be used.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see larger turbines used and the capacity of the farms increased.
Floating Foundation For 15+ MW Offshore Wind Turbines Launches
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Odfjell Oceanwind has launched the Deepsea Star™ harsh environment floating wind foundation designed to support wind turbines with a capacity of 15 MW and more.
Note.
- Odfjell Oceanwind is a Norwegian company and has this web site.
- This news item from Odfgell Oceanwind is entitled Odfjell Oceanwind Launches The Deepsea Star™ 15MW Floating Wind Foundation and was published on the 28th of February, 2023.
- The news item was the source of the iffshoreWIND.biz article.
- In the news item, one of the designers, explains some of the features.
I very much believe that ,my twenty-three-year-old self armed with ICI’s PACE 231-R would have had great fun examining the dynamic proiperties of a structure like this.
Activity Ramping Up On Irish Floating Wind Test Site
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is busy with bringing forward its Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site (AMETS), a floating wind and wave energy technology test site which has been in development for several years now. Along with offshore surveys scheduled for next month, SEIA has also commenced work on procuring an onshore substation and a floating LiDAR for AMETS.
It all sounds very professional.
The Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site will be located off Annagh Head in the West of Ireland. This Google Map shows the location of Annagh Head on the island of Ireland.
I do have a imperfect memory of a weekend of good hospitality and gourmet food at a hotel called the Cashel House Hotel to the West of Galway, but I can’t remember how C and I flew there. Did we fly to Knock or Shannon either using a scheduled airline or my Cessna 340 A?
All I can remember of the holiday, was that it was very windy at times and driving through Westport. So did we explore towards Annagh Head?
This Google Map shows a close-up of Annagh Head.
I suspect that Annagh Head is an ideal location to test floating wind and wave power.
There will also be good hospitality and airlinks to the UK and Europe.
In So Many Floating Wind Designs, So Few Test Sites – Norwegian METCentre Sold Out, I wrote about the shortage of test sites for wind power.
So perhaps, AMETS will help to fill the gap?
In
Wales’ First Floating Offshore Wind Farm Gets Marine License
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Blue Gem Wind, a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Group, has secured a marine license for the 100 MW Erebus floating offshore wind project in Wales.
These are some other points from the article.
- The project will use seven next-generation 14 MW turbines.
- They will be mounted on WindFloats, which are a proven technology.
- The wind farm will provide enough renewable energy to power 93,000 homes.
- It is aimed that the project will be commissioned in 2026.
The project has a web site, which is in English and Welsh. The home page has a good visualisation of three wind turbines on their WindFloats. Underneath is this mission statement.
Independent studies have suggested there could be as much as 50GW of electricity capacity available in the Celtic Sea waters of the UK and Ireland. This renewable energy resource could play a key role in the UK meeting the 2050 Net-Zero target required to mitigate climate change. Erebus, the first floating offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea will provide new low carbon supply chain opportunities, support coastal communities and create long-term benefits for the region.
Wales will be powered by sea dragons!
Floating Offshore Wind Could Reach Full Commercialisation By 2035, Research Says
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Floating offshore wind could reach full commercialisation by 2035, said 60 per cent of respondents in the latest research that was done by DNV, with 25 per cent believing it will be as early as 2030.
I’ll go along with that, but as a serial disruptive innovator, I believe full commercialisation could be earlier than 2027.
It will be for these reasons.
Capacity Factor
There is reason to believe from the figures from existing floating wind turbines, that the capacity factor is very good and could be higher than those of turbines with fixed foundations.
Wikipedia says this about the world’s first commercial floating offshore windfarm; Hywind Scotland.
In its first 5 years of operation it averaged a capacity factor of 54%, sometimes in 10 meter waves.
If other floating technologies show as good capacities as this, then the technology may well find it easier to attract finance.
Design
We have only seen a couple of designs deployed; Hywind and WindFloat.
There will be plenty more to come.
This visualisation shows five D-Floaters being transported on a ship.
Note.
- D-Floaters are being developed by Bassoe Technology.
- As many floats will be manufactured, a long way from their final mooring, why not make them easy to transport.
- Other companies are developing floats that can be bolted or welded together from standard components.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one design came to dominate the market.
This might be a good thing, as it would surely speed up deployment of floating wind farms.
Construction And Installation
This video shows the construction and installation if Principle Power‘s, Windfloat prototype.
Note.
- All the construction and assembly is done in a dock with a suitable crane.
- This is much easier than doing it the assembly out at sea, as has to be done with turbines with fixed foundations.
- I suspect that with the best design of float and turbine, high rates of turbine assembly can be achieved.
- Health and Safety will prefer this type of assembly.
I suspect other floating wind turbines will be similarly assembled.
Suppose you were assembling 15 MW floating turbines at a rate of one per day, that would be a production rate of over 5 GW of turbines per year from just one dock.
Early Delivery Of Power
I suspect that to build a floating wind farm, one of the first things to be towed out would be the substation to which all the turbines will be connected.
- This could even be floating.
- I’ve seen floating sub station designs, that incorporate energy storage and hydrogen production.
Once the substation is fully-installed and tested, floating turbines could be towed out, anchored, connected to the substation and immediately start to produce electricity.
I have built a lot of cash-flow models in my time and I believe that one for say a 2 GW floating wind farm would be very friendly to proposers, investors and operators.
There’s A Lot Of Sea Out There!
And after nearly sixty years of offshore semi-submersible platforms in UK water, we now how to work in the conditions.
In ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations, I said this, about the total capacity, that will be developed under the ScotWind leasing round.
- Adding up these fixed foundation wind farms gives a capacity of 9.7 GW in 3042 km² or about 3.2 MW per km².
- Adding up the floating wind farms gives a capacity of 14.6 GW in 4193 km² or about 3.5 MW per km².
Note.
- You appear to get ten percent more capacity in a given area of sea with floating wind farms.
- The energy density of floating wind farms is 3.5 MW per km².
I suspect investors will prefer the floating wind farms.
Lower Visibility
Floating wind farms will generally be further out to sea and less likely to be objected to, than installations nearer to land.
Maintenance And Updating
Floating wind farms can be towed into port for servicing and updating, which must ease the process.
Project Management
I believe that floating wind farms, are projects, that would benefit highly from good project management.
Sometimes, I wish I was still writing project management software and I am always open to offers to give my opinion and test anybody’s software in that area!
Finance
I can see that floating wind farms could offer better cash flows to investors and this will make them invest in floating wind farms at the expense of those with fixed foundations.
Conclusion
For all these reasons, but with my instinct telling me that floating wind farms could offer a better return to investors, I wouldn’t be surprised if floating wind farms came to dominate the market.
Green Volt On Track To Power UK Oil & Gas Platforms By Mid-2020s
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn have submitted a Marine Licence application for the Green Volt floating offshore wind farm.
These two paragraphs outline the project.
This consent application could allow the project to start generating power in the mid-2020s, making it the most advanced oil and gas decarbonisation project in the UK, the developers said.
Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn are applying for a lease for Green Volt under the Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) round.
Green Volt wind farm already has a web site, which gives these details of the wind farm.
- It will be 50 miles off Peterhead.
- 300-500 MW
- Operational in 2027.
The offshoreWIND.biz article also says that the project has the potential to generate enough green power to electrify all major oil and gas platforms in the Outer Moray Firth area.
I can’t wait for the successful INTOG bids to be announced in April.
Engineers are creating exciting times.
Scotland And Brittany Discuss Partnership On Floating Wind Turbines
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
A delegation of fifteen Scottish companies met in Rennes, France, with companies from the Brittany offshore wind and marine energy sector to discuss the development of partnerships around floating wind turbines.
I can see more partnerships like this.
The Anonymous Widower 