A consortium headed by marine services company LOC Group has been selected to investigate challenges facing the development of utility-scale floating offshore wind farms with capacity in the order of 500MW.
The investigation has been commissioned by the Carbon Trust and other partners in the Floating Wind Joint Industry Project, including Dong Energy, Engie, Eon, Innogy, Kyuden Mirai Energy, Statoil, Vattenfall and the Scottish government.
Along with other consortium members – Portuguese consultancy WavEC and geoscience experts Cathie Associates – LOC will probe infrastructure challenges related to the planning, construction and maintenance of large floating projects.
Their analysis will include an outline of the logistics needed for the assembly, storage and transportation of equipment.
“The industry needs to recognize the logistics and infrastructure of floating offshore wind will be of a much greater scale than we have today,” said LOC director of renewables advisory and energy technology RV Ahilan.
“While the number of units may remain similar, the size of the footprint of floating foundations are likely to be an order of magnitude greater than hitherto, thus challenging existing infrastructure boundaries.”
Transfer of knowledge from the oil and gas industry will therefore form an important part of investigations, Ahilan said.
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