The Carbon Trust-led Floating Wind Joint Industry Partnership has launched two new studies to investigate critical issues for large scale floating wind farms. Commissioned by the Scottish Government and twelve industry partners (EnBW, ENGIE, Eolfi, E.ON, Iberdrola, innogy, Kyuden Mirai, Ørsted, Shell, Statoil, Vattenfall, and wpd Offshore) the JIP will be supporting the development of high voltage dynamic cables and outlining monitoring and inspection requirements for commercial floating wind power projects.
BPP Cables will lead the study on dynamic export cables, which has been identified as a potential bottleneck for commercial deployments. While lower voltage dynamic inter-array cables (~22-66kV) are readily available, there is a notable gap in the market for suitable high voltage dynamic cables for export purposes (~130-250kV) to enable efficient transmission of power back to shore. As part of the study, the Carbon Trust intend to launch a competition to support cable manufacturers to develop suitable designs. The competition, expected this summer, hopes to accelerate the development of the technology to ensure that high voltage dynamic cables are available for the first commercial floating wind projects within the next 5-10 years.
In parallel, Oceaneering will deliver a study to investigate monitoring and inspection requirements for floating wind farms. The large number of components in commercial deployments, including hulls, mooring lines, anchors, and cabling, could create challenges for operators to cost effectively monitor and inspect their assets.