Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP) has opened a new office to host its Global Floating Offshore Wind Competence Centre (GFLOWCC) in Scotland.
The Edinburgh centre provides the ideal location for COP to further grow its team and accelerate the large-scale deployment of floating offshore wind across the UK and globally, the company said.
COP is currently developing the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm, the world’s largest floating demonstration project, off the coast of Caithness, Scotland.
Early floating wind projects such as Pentland are vital to demonstrate how the industry can both reduce cost and localise key project work packages, the developer said.
Together with partners SSE and Marubeni, COP is also developing the 3.6GW Ossian Floating Offshore Wind Farm, which will be located approximately 80KM southeast of the Aberdeenshire coast.
It is also preparing for the Celtic Sea floating wind leasing round later this year.
COP is the exclusive offshore wind development partner to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), one of the world’s leading green infrastructure fund managers.
One third of the partnership’s 50+ GW offshore wind portfolio is comprised of floating wind.
Alan Hannah, UK chief executive and partner at COP said: “The Global FLOW Competence Centre opening is an important moment in what will be a significant year for FLOW.
“It puts Scotland and the UK at the core of our global floating offshore wind ambitions, building on strong maritime heritage, a history of innovation, and world-class energy supply chains.
“The UK has established an early capability in FLOW and while it must continue to innovate, there can be no substitute for learning through doing.
“We must get projects in the water to better understand how to industrialise floating technology in the face of fierce global competition.
“The centre will play a crucial role to build the industry’s understanding of how to efficiently maximise the floating offshore wind opportunity so that we can achieve a highly localised, industrialised model for deployment for future commercial scale projects.”
The launch of COP’s Global FLOW Competence Centre comes as the UK Government announces a new Energy Security Plan: Powering Up Britain.
This highlights the importance of technologies such as floating wind to boost domestic renewable energy production capabilities.