The international partnership combines two decades of experience from offshore wind and fixed-bottom offshore substations with strong competencies in marine structures. The aim is to commercialize a robust and cost-effective concept for floating offshore substations.
Copenhagen/Esbjerg, Denmark / Oslo, Norway – Semco Maritime, ISC Consulting Engineers, Aalborg University, Energy Cluster Denmark and Norwegian-Swedish Inocean have together secured funding for further development of FOSS – a concept for a floating offshore substation. The partners announced their collaboration in 2022 – and are now ready to accelerate the development further with new funding from the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP).
A floating offshore substation (FOSS) is crucial for the offshore wind industry, as deeper locations far from the coast will increasingly be used in the future. Traditional offshore wind farms are installed on the seabed, but at depths of more than about 80 meters, installation is difficult and expensive. With between 60-80% of the energy potential from the world’s offshore wind farms located in areas with depths of more than 60 meters, there is a need for alternative solutions to bring green power to shore, such as a floating offshore substation.
“Our common goal is to mature our FOSS400 design, as previously announced. This effort will unlock the potential for wind energy production in areas far from shore in deeper waters,” says Tommy Flindt, Senior Director of Technology at Semco Maritime. “The funding for the project will strengthen our concept, as we can now conduct a scaled basin test at Aalborg University. This test will validate platform and equipment movements. We are extremely excited to work with this cutting-edge technology that will ensure a stable and cost-effective floating substation for the global market.”
“The funding helps move our floating offshore substation concept a decisive step forward. Together with Semco and Inocean, we have developed FOSS400 based on the knowledge and experience we have gained from working with more than 50 substations. We believe that we have a competitive floating substation that will be seen at offshore wind farms in the near future,” says Andreas Laungaard, Vice President of Renewable Energy at ISC Consulting Engineers.
“Based on experience from our INOTM series of floating foundations for offshore wind turbines – together with our results from integration/interface work for HVDC substations – we look forward to the new funding accelerating our development of a robust and scalable floating substation concept that will benefit our industry’s growth,” says Sara Helgeson, MD of Inocean Sweden.
Source: Energy Cluster Denmark
