Hywind Scotland has hit a new highest capacity factor record of just over 57% in the 12 months to March 2021.
During its first two years of operation, Hywind Scotland achieved an average capacity factor of 54%, against an offshore wind average in the UK of around 40%.
The capacity factor is the ratio of actual energy output over a given period of time, to the maximum possible output.
A higher capacity factor means lower intermittency and higher value.
Developer Equinor said Hywind Scotland has “truly proven” the potential for floating offshore wind, “paving the way” for the UK’s announcement of 1GW of floating offshore wind to be developed in the UK by 2030.
Hywind Scotland plant manager Sonja Chirico Indrebo said: “In Equinor we are constantly striving to improve the performance of our assets, whilst ensuring we extract learnings to support future projects.
“The turbines on Hywind Scotland are covered in sensors, to extract as much data from the wind farm as possible.
“We’re monitoring everything from ballast, mooring, structural strains and the more regular wind turbine sensor data, looking at how best to optimise this innovative technology as we prepare to develop at scale. We’re sharing parts of this data across industry to help the advancement of the technology globally and more widely than just our own operations.”