Floating Offshore Wind News

Britain will invest 55.7 million pounds ($71.45 million) in the Port of Cromarty Firth in Scotland to expand the facility to become a hub for floating offshore wind, the government said on Wednesday.Britain has a target to largely decarbonize its electricity sector by 2030 which will require a huge ramp up in renewable power like offshore wind.Using floating turbines, that are not fixed to the seabed like traditional wind farms, allows the projects to be much deeper out at sea, making them less visible to communities that might object and where wind speeds are likely to be stronger.Currently t

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Fukada Salvage & Marine Works have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore collaboration on transportation and installation (T&I) vessels for floating offshore wind turbines.Under the MoU, MOL and Fukada will launch a study of efficient transportation and installation methods for floating offshore wind turbines.In anticipation of accelerating the introduction of floating offshore wind turbines in the Japanese market in the 2030s, the companies…

Kongsberg Maritime has unveiled a range of innovative methods designed to transform and industrialize the transportation and installation (T&I) of floating offshore wind turbines.The new solutions have been developed to streamline the entire process, from anchor and mooring installation through to electrical cable pull-in, ensuring that turbines are ready to be connected to energy grids, and offer a comprehensive solution for the floating offshore wind market.The solutions are…

ABS has issued a statement of maturity to Aikido’s floating wind platform which is designed to be assembled more quickly in smaller port areas and transported using existing barges. This could enable faster and cheaper development of floating offshore wind projects.As part of the process, ABS witnessed a successful upending demonstration of the Aikido One unit, a 1:4-scale floating wind platform. The test exhibited the platform’s ability to quickly deploy from its collapsed transportation configuration into an upright…

The Port of Long Beach is accomplishing its environmental, operational and commercial goals and is setting its sights on even greater achievements in the years ahead, CEO Mario Cordero said Thursday during his eighth annual State of the Port address.While reflecting on the Port’s record-setting 2024, with 9.6 million cargo containers moved with zero disruptions or backlogs, Cordero said Long Beach is making progress in transitioning operations to zero emissions, while marking…

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalized guidance aimed at mitigating the impacts of offshore wind energy projects on commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries.It provides a national framework for addressing social and economic impacts on the fishing industry and establishes clear processes for the offshore wind industry to address potential disruptions to fisheries. It ensures consistency and promotes fair treatment of fishermen, regardless of their home or landing port.The guidance emphasizes early engagement and transparency with fishing communities…

In support of the current administration’s goals to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 and 15 GW of floating offshore wind energy capacity by 2035, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced the publication of a Call for Information and Nominations (Call) for possible wind energy leasing off the coast of the U.S. Pacific Territory of Guam.This Call will gather public comments to inform potential leasing areas, and results from close collaboration with the Government of Guam, which aims to generate 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2035 and 100 percent by 2045.“Responsible offshore wind development off Guam’s coast offers a vital opportunity to expand clean energy…

ABS and Akselos have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance engineering and certification processes for floating offshore wind projects.The companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on solutions aimed at optimizing design, reducing costs, and improving efficiency for the floating wind sector globally.The collaboration utilizes ABS's expertise in offshore certification and classification with Akselos' simulation technology for structural risk mitigation and optimization. Together, they aim to support the U.S.

Belgium-based offshore installation contractor Jan De Nul, in partnership with Greek cable maker Hellenic Cables, has entered into a framework agreement to supply and install export cables for two 750 MW floating wind farms off the coast of Southern Brittany in France.The agreement was signed with France's transmission system operator RTE, which is developing an offshore power grid to connect future wind farms.Jan De Nul will install the cables that transport the renewable energy…

Tugdock has reached a significant milestone as its Tugdock Submersible Platform (TSP) is awarded the prestigious ‘Statement of Feasibility’ from DNV, the world’s leading  independent energy expert and assurance provider.This endorsement recognizes the TSP as a transformative technology with applications across multiple markets, including floating offshore wind, vessel drydocking and decommissioning.The TSP is a pinned, open steel-frame that uses the company’s patented vertical air buoyancy cylinders.

Tugdock and Sarens have secured funding from Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator for a joint project to develop a heavy lift operations and maintenance (O&M) hub at ABP’s port of Port Talbot in Wales to support floating wind projects in the region.With key support from major industry players such as ABP and RWE, and other partnerships, the vision for the facility is to provide support for heavy lift equipment used in floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.Port Talbot's strategic location near the Celtic Sea makes it an optimal hub for supporting floating offshore wind projects…

Almost five years ago, BP embarked on an ambitious attempt to transform itself from an oil company into a business focused on low-carbon power. The British company is now trying to return to its roots as a big oil and gas player with a growth story to match rivals, revive its share price and allay investor concerns over future profits.Rivals Shell and Norway's state-controlled Equinor are also scaling back energy transition plans set out earlier this decade. Their change of direction…

DNV has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Seatrium to cooperate on strategic activities and projects in the areas of engineering, technology and new product design, with key focus on floating offshore energy solutions.Under the MoU, DNV will provide Seatrium with expert advice on market and regulatory trends, emerging technologies, and best practices for environmental, safety and quality standards, in the maritime and offshore sectors.Both parties will work closely on optimizing existing processes and improving efficiencies across newbuilding…

Preparing for industrialization, the floating offshore wind industry is tackling its unique mooring and cabling challenges.The idea of keeping floating offshore wind platforms in place using dynamic positioning has been considered. The trouble is: it could take up to 80% of the electricity generated by the turbine to do it.So, as Maersk Supply Service said a few years back: In a field of 100 turbines with 4-5 mooring lines each, there is going to be a lot of subsea “spaghetti.” It’s not a problem unique to the industry…

North Star has launched a partnership which includes MO4, Principle Power, SMST, Vard, and Voith Group to fast-track the development of high-performance operations and maintenance ships tailored for floating offshore wind farms.The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a dedicated working group of industry experts to help fast-track the design and testing of a new service operations vessel (SOV) concept.Together, the six organizations have committed to developing a detailed…

Chelsea Pettengill has been selected to serve as interim Executive Director Maine Port Authority (MPA), taking over for Matthew Burns, who has decided to leave his position at the helm of the MPA to return to the Maine Department of Transportation in a new role.Beginning on September 23, Burns became the Deputy Director of MaineDOT's Office of Freight and Business Logistics. Under the leadership and guidance of Nathan Moulton, Director of Office of Freight and Business Logistics, Burns will expand his scope of work to include all freight modes, including freight rail, trucking, and ports.

A group of industry specialist companies has achieved a world first for the wind industry, with a major component exchange (MCE) being performed on an offshore floating wind turbine while it remained on site at the Scottish Kincardine offshore wind farm, located south east of Aberdeen.The new, more cost-effective, process was delivered through a collaboration of technologies and expertise from LiftOff, Vestas, Dragados, Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Limited (KOWL) and Cobra Wind…

Mainstream Renewable Power, the pureplay global wind and solar company majority-owned by Aker Horizons, has announced that KF Wind, a 1,125MW floating offshore wind project being developed off the coast of Ulsan, South Korea, has secured the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval from the Ministry of Environment for the totality of the two-phase project. The Award of the EIA is a key milestone for the development of the two-phase floating offshore wind project, advancing towards construction.The EIA comprises the first phase…

Examining similarities and differences between the deepwater oil & gas and the emerging floating wind segment.There has been much excitement around the potential for the offshore wind industry to access deeper water sites through the deployment of floating wind technology.Further, there has been much discussion around the development and deployment of disruptive technologies to leverage the opportunity of floating wind. However, in the short- to medium-term, there is insufficient…

A ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony was held to signal the start of construction at the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal in Massachusetts.The Crowley Wind Services-led project involves transforming a former oil- and coal-fired power plant into Massachusetts’ second wind port, to support the construction of offshore wind farms in New England and future floating turbines in the Gulf of Maine.Crowley also announced it has awarded Massachusetts-based joint venture DW White JF White to be the project’s general contractor.

The Biden administration on Monday issued an offshore wind lease to the state of Maine for a small project that will demonstrate floating turbine technology off the U.S. East Coast.The lease area covers 9,700 acres (3,920 hectares) and is 28 nautical miles (52 kilometers) from shore, an area that could accommodate up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines that could generate about 144 megawatts of electricity.Floating wind is widely acknowleded as the future of offshore wind, as it is able to tap stronger winds further from shore.

Early 2024 saw a group of financial deals that have implications, in a broad sense, for how offshore wind projects may be financed. While offshore wind projects might be thought of as being in the ‘utility finance’ basket, they are ultimately high-risk deals that might better suit the portfolios of ‘infrastructure investment’ which, in recent years, has taken a shift towards tolerating more uncertainty when it comes to cash flows.A 2022 article from consultants McKinsey, titled “Infrastructure investing will never be the same”…

TotalEnergies has launched a pilot project consisting of a floating wind turbine to supply renewable power to the Culzean offshore platform in the UK North Sea.Culzean is a high-pressure, high-temperature gas condensate field located in Block 22/25a in the East Central Graben area.The 3MW floating wind turbine will be located 2km west of the Culzean platform, 220km off the eastern coast of Scotland. This turbine, expected to be fully operational by end 2025, will supply around 20% of Culzean’s power requirement…