Scotland will continue to back floating offshore wind to avoid missing a slice of the action for what will be a global industry, the Floating Offshore Wind UK 2018 conference has heard.
Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse told delegates in Aberdeen today that not supporting the industry would be a missed opportunity.
“If Scotland does not lead on this it will be seeding the opportunity to others and that would be a great regret,” he said. “We did that with offshore wind (fixed), we dropped a ball.”
Wheelhouse said that work continues on new offshore wind policy in Scotland, including a new leasing round that will identify both floating and fixed foundation sites.
Both technologies are key to achieving the Scottish government’s renewables targets, he said, with floating wind likely to play a key role in the UK sector deal target of 30GW of installed capacity offshore by 2030.
The country already hosts Equinor and Masdar’s 30 Hywind Scotland floating project (pictured) and Wheelhouse also welcomed news of first power at the up to 50MW Kincardine floater off the east coast of Scotland.
“I am delighted Kincardine achieved first power ahead of the ROC deadline at the end of last month with a very challenging timeframe,” he said.
“I am looking forward to the project progressing to the next phase, with five (more) turbines by 2020 when we will see the true value of the project and what floating offshore wind can do.”
Wheelhouse said projects like Kincardine are vital to demonstrating how costs can be reduced on the path to commercialisation.
“Support needs to reflect that floating offshore wind and marine have higher costs right now. If we can get down to comparable costs with fixed offshore wind then we are at the races,” he added.
Stiesdal Offshore Technologies chief executive Henrik Stiesdal said floating offshore wind could be as big as fixed offshore wind within 10 years.
The industry needs an industrial not bespoke approach to manufacturing, he told delegates in Aberdeen.
Stiesdal Offshore Technologies is working with Innogy and Shell on a pilot floating wind project in Norway.