Image credit: EMEC

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has concluded the concept design for new floating wind technology – a new 100MW floating offshore test and demonstration site.

EMEC plans to secure a lease for a site about 20km (12 miles) west of Orkney, Scotland which will comprise six berths for floating offshore wind turbines of up to 20MW capacity.

With water depths of 80-95 meters, large waves and a mean windspeed of 10.7m/s, the site will offer floating wind developers representative metocean conditions to those in ScotWind, Celtic Seas and future leasing rounds.

Four of the six berths will be grid-connected, while the final two berths will be reserved for alternative applications such as hydrogen generation.

The site has been designed specifically for floating wind developers to de-risk their technologies, putting turbines, floating structures, moorings and other components to the test in an energetic offshore environment. This will enable refined performance before technology is scaled up and fully commercialised.

Neil Kermode, managing director at EMEC said: “Floating wind will have a large role to play in our future energy mix so we’re gearing up to support development of the sector. We’re looking at how we can use our existing testing infrastructure for floating wind subsystem testing, as well as developing a new test site to enable full-scale demonstrations ahead of commercial deployments around Scotland.

“We know the demand is there, we’ve had a stream of requests over the last few years from wind developers seeking a test site to help them commercialise their technologies, so this feels like the natural next step in the evolution of EMEC. Having hosted more wave and tidal energy technologies at EMEC than anywhere else in the world, we’re well versed in running offshore testing grounds for renewable energy.

“For Scotland to be ready for ScotWind, we need to be testing these technologies and developing our supply chains now.”

As well as being a catalyst for floating wind R&D and innovation, the test site will make full use of Scapa Flow and plans for it to become an offshore wind hub, supporting future job creation and supply chain development. This will help capture and retain economic benefit from commercial offshore wind projects in Orkney and the Highlands and Islands.

Xodus Group provided support through the initial design phases and EMEC will provide the site management, technical and supply chain link-up support required to maximise technology demonstration at the site.