Scotland – RWE and Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult will jointly study the potential for Scottish businesses to produce concrete foundations for floating wind projects on a commercial scale.
RWE has been involved in three floating wind demonstration projects in Norway, Spain and the US, two of which use concrete foundations that could also be suitable for ScotWind sites.
Manufacture of concrete foundations could have the biggest supply chain benefit in terms of Scottish content for floating wind projects. The study will be carried out by the ORE Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence to understand the scale of this potential and how it might be unlocked.
ORE Catapult’s FOW CoE Programme Manager, Ralph Torr, said: “This report will identify key manufacturing and fabrication methodologies and constituent materials required to produce concrete substructures. It will also assess the existing Scottish supply chain capability and capacity to deliver such concrete substructures into a utility scale floating offshore wind project.”
Results expected in mid-2021
Fully funded by RWE and delivered as a discretionary project within the Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence, a summary of the work will be published upon completion of the research in mid-2021.
The knowledge gained from the three floating offshore demonstration projects RWE is participating in, will provide an important source of information for future projects.
The projects three include the 2MW DemoSATH project, being developed in partnership with Saitec Offshore Technologies, off the north coast of Spain in 2022. The second project is the 12MW New England Aqua Ventus (NEAV) project, being developed together with Diamond Offshore Wind and the University of Maine, off the coast of Maine. The project is planned to be deployed in 2023. RWE’s third floating demonstration project, using the steel TetraSpar concept, is being developed in partnership with Stiesdal Offshore Technologies, Shell and TEPCO. It is expected to be launched later in 2021.
