Equinor is targeting further floating development in UK waters and believes significant capacity can be deployed in Scotland before 2030, delegates to the Global Offshore Wind 2019 conference heard today.
“If the UK wants to meet recommended CCC targets of 75GW of installed capacity by 2050 then it needs floating,” Equinor’s head of Hywind Development Sebastian Bringsvaerd said on day two of the conference.
Bringsvaard said Equinor sees a total market of 12-15GW of installed projects globally by 2030 and believes floating projects can deliver power at a cost of between €40-60 (a megawatt-hour) by the end of the next decade.
No new technological developments are needed to make floating projects commercially viable – and scale will be key to driving down energy costs, delegates heard.
“There is no silver bullet – we need to mobilise the supply chain and are keen to take Scotland to the next level,” Bringsvaerd said.
Several suitable locations for floating wind are under consideration by Crown Estate Scotland as part of its upcoming ScotWind leasing round.
Colin Maciver of Marine Scotland told delegates a draft of Marine Scotland’s sectoral marine plan will be published in Autumn 2019.
“Crown Estate Scotland will pre-launch the ScotWind leasing round in July, ahead of formally opening the round in October,” he said.
The deadline for applications is April 2020, with projects awarded by July 2020.
Winning projects will need to come online within the next decade.
“We need to make that round the next big step for floating in Europe, it could really provide local companies with a huge export potential,” Bringsvaerd added.