Making floating wind a reality

A new report has been launched by Carbon Trust that sets out the current state of the floating wind industry and identifies key technical barriers that need to be addressed to make it a commercial reality.

The new report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, outlines the potential scale of cost reduction achievable for floating wind technology and the opportunity for Scotland to take the lead in commercialising this technology.

“This report provides one of the most comprehensive assessments of floating wind technology to date and highlights the need for government and industry need to work together to support technology demonstrations and targeted R&D initiatives to de-risk this technology and realise the cost reduction potential,” said Jan Matthiesen, director, offshore wind, Carbon Trust.

According to the report, windfarms using fixed-bottom foundations will need to be developed further from shore and in deeper water as installed capacity for offshore wind increases and the relatively accessible shallow near-shore sites are exhausted. Carbon Trust says this will pose greater technical challenges and constrain efforts to reduce costs.

“At the same time, industry should now team up to overcome common challenges and bring floating offshore wind from concept to commercial reality,” Mr Matthiesen added.

In response to this challenge, Carbon Trusts adds that momentum is building around the potential for floating offshore wind technology to unlock near-shore deep water sites at a lower cost than far-shore fixed-bottom locations.

Floating wind is particularly well suited to Scotland, according to the report, which states that a combination of high wind speeds, abundant near-shore deep water sites, and the ability to leverage existing infrastructure and supply chain capabilities from the offshore oil and gas industry create the requisite conditions to position Scotland as a world leader in floating wind technology.

The Carbon Trust has conducted quantitative analysis of 18 concepts currently on the market, based on information provided by the innovators, to understand the key technology trends, cost drivers and barriers to commercialisation. The analysis revealed that floating wind concepts have the potential to reach below £100/MWh in commercial deployments, according to platform developers, with the leading concepts estimating even lower costs of £85-£95MWh, which would be competitive with fixed-bottom projects if floating wind reaches commercial scale deployment in the 2020s.

The report goes on to outline a series of recommendations to address the barriers and support the development of floating wind, defined at four levels: concept-specific RD&D initiatives, test facility development, component-level RD&D initiatives and evidence-based studies.