The Nautical SUNRISE project will help fund a 5MW offshore floating solar system for use on RWE’s 800MW OranjeWind (Hollandse Kust West VII) wind farm off the west coast of the Netherlands.
The €8.4m project, supported with €6.8m of the Horizon Europe programme, kicked off in December 2023 to execute research and development on offshore floating solar (OFS) systems and its components.
With RWE providing the investment for the installation and deployment, the system is planned to be electrically integrated, certified, and located within the offshore wind farm and will use solar panels supplied by Dutch company SolarDuck.
The outcomes of the project will enable the large-scale deployment and commercialisation of OFS systems in the future, both as standalone arrays and integrated into offshore wind farms.
Prior to the offshore deployment, the Nautical SUNRISE consortium will conduct extensive research and testing to ensure the reliability, survivability, electrical stability, and yield of offshore floating solar systems. A comprehensive scale-up plan will address the challenges and create opportunities to drive forward the commercialisation of offshore floating solar systems.
With sustainability in mind, it is committed to consider the environmental impact and sustainability of OFS.
The developer will assess the environmental footprint, circularity, and full life cycle sustainability of offshore floating solar systems. This assessment will not only cover the demonstrator project but also include multiple GW-scale commercial projects, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the technology’s ecological implications.
SolarDuck chief technology officer Don Hoogendoorn said: “This subsidy allows SolarDuck with its partners to push the environmental boundary of the design and at the same time get an in-depth understanding of the ecological and reliability of the design.”