Unlocking the potential of floating offshore wind

11-12-2023

Mitigate climate change Renewable energy Energy

This month, our Global Director for Offshore Wind Renewables, Jonathan Bull, presented at the Offshore Industry conference in The Hague. We spoke to him about what he presented and what he learnt about the future of this promising energy sector.

Unlocking the potential of floating offshore wind

Royal HaskoningDHV is supporting FLOW development in several ways: Working on live projects like the Greenvolt Offshore Wind Farm in Scotland; creating a roadmap for the UK’s Floating Offshore Wind Task Force, and our study for the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC).

From these projects we’ve learnt a lot about the promise and challenges at the heart of FLOW. Here’s what I shared and learnt at the Offshore Industry conference:

What is the current state of floating offshore wind?

Carbon reduction is a crucial aspiration from the Paris Agreement. Translating that aspiration into reality requires a diverse energy mix – and despite its relative infancy, Floating Offshore Wind (or FLOW) has a crucial part to play.

With a finite amount of coast available, The Global Wind Energy Council predicts up to 80% of world offshore wind development will be in water depths of 60m – with 2,000GW of FLOW predicted – by 2050. In the UK alone, a recent report shows the total pipeline of floating offshore wind projects has grown 32% in the last year.

This shows the promise and potential for FLOW. But there are obstacles in the way too…

We can’t let costs stifle development

A common benchmark of success in new and emerging industries is the move to standardisation which facilitates cheaper production and construction costs. While this should be a concern for today, it cannot be solved yet.

FLOW is in its infancy, its research and development phase. Trying to drive down costs could stifle innovation with the intent of fast-tracking progress. During the conference news of the UK government announcement on improved incentives for floating wind was well received – citing the UK market as a good model to follow.

We should start to make decisions now on adopting early technology choices. Accepting an increased level of risk which will be refined as the industry progresses to achieve standardisation in the future. Developers must support this with bold decisions, support for business cases and early commitments to infrastructure and supply chain.

Port development is needed

One of the projects I presented at the conference was our study of NSEC members. Commissioned by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), under the Dutch co-presidency of NSEC, and carried out by Royal HaskoningDHV – we found that NSEC countries are ‘Unlikely’ to meet 2030 offshore wind targets without immediate action on Port Development.

This stark finding paints a picture of what is needed to meet the targets we have set ourselves. Another picture becomes clear when you see the scale of FLOW turbines if demand for ever increasing turbine outputs continues towards 2030!

Floating offshore wind deployment requires ports to become sophisticated manufacturing sites for the fabrication and integration of turbines and foundations. This necessitates specialist planning considering industrialisation and automation techniques.

It’s fair to say that the current European port infrastructure to handle this type of mass-produced operation is limited. Therefore, a significant European-wide investment programme is required for port development. Wind Europe estimates €6.5bn of investment is required in port infrastructure alone by 2030.

Collaboration can unlock potential

While standardisation may not be open to FLOW just yet, the relevant players and actors in the industry can, and should be, trying to be more collaborative.

The public sector must lead by providing a clear industry strategy plan and facilitate a hub approach -with clear coordination between developers and supply chain infrastructure. The UK has again taken steps in the right direction here with the government’s Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS). Which has been established to distribute funding to support critical port infrastructure that will enable the delivery of floating offshore wind.

This need for a strategic approach extends to private actors, with collaboration between groups of developers and port authorities needed to jointly identify, develop and share port infrastructure facilities. And support research and development by mobilising the bundling of private and public finance with a strategic investment approach.

But supply chain certainty holds the key

Even with current developments planning for supply chain availability 5-10 years ahead – supply chain readiness is difficult, with some FLOW turbines not yet available. Current wind turbine generator types being planned for are 15MW, but it is predicted that 20-25MW machines will be on the market by mid-2030’s.

Planning and predictability is crucial for the supply chain, particularly where there are shortages in availability and bottlenecks - not just in turbine manufacture. Currently, demand is outstripping supply, with shipyards typically have full order books for the next 3- 4 years.

This is even more reason for that joined-up, strategic approach. And to temper ambition with the real time frames we’re working within and towars.

Despite the challenges, the promise of FLOW is clear – and the need for it is clearer still. We’re proud to be working to forward the ambitions of this burgeoning sector.

If you’d like to explore more of our work, or understand what these challenges mean for your project, get in touch with us.