Floating Offshore Wind-The Emerald Project
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Floating Offshore Wind
We believe that floating offshore wind is a game changer for renewable power.
Offshore wind has moved quickly from being a niche to a mainstream supplier of low carbon electricity, becoming a favoured form of renewable energy generation. To capitalise on the ocean’s full offshore wind potential, floating as well as fixed foundation solutions will be required.
Offshore wind to produce 7-11% of EU electricity by 2030
Offshore wind has potential to produce 80-180% of Europe’s electricity at a competitive cost
Up to 45% of this could come from floating wind
"1Wind Europe’s Floating Offshore Wind Vision Statement (June 2017)"
Wind is Necessary
Floating foundations open access to new sites in deeper waters – 80% of Europe’s offshore wind resource is located in waters of 60m or deeper – where they can access higher average wind speeds at optimal spacing. This increases yield and capacity factors leading to competitive Levelised Costs of Energy (LCoE). Being further out to sea, visual landscape intrusion is minimised or eliminated, as is disruption to other marine users.
Floating wind solutions are maturing, and an increasing number of foundations are now available. Arrays of ever-increasing scale are being developed globally utilising a variety of technologies, and styles such as tension leg platform (TLP), semi-submersible, and spar bases, among others. Floating offshore wind is an early-stage commercial technology. Global deployments planned over the coming decade will lead to the industrialization of floating wind technology to the point where it will rapidly become cost competitive with traditional bottom-fixed foundations.
To find out more about floating offshore wind please contact us.
The videos below show the deployment of Principle Power Inc.’s FOW technology at the WindFloat Atlantic Project off the Portuguese coast.
Installing WindFloat Atlantic | Episode 1: Mooring Supply
Installing WindFloat Atlantic | Mooring line pre-Lay
operation
Installing WindFloat Atlantic I Floater preparation
Installing WindFloat Atlantic I Hook-Up Operation