8<\/sup>. Official plans have these operational by 2031, and each can be extended to 750MW. Despite several postponements, Norway\u2019s Utsira North floating wind tender (up to 1500MW) also remains on the cards.<\/p>\nSpain, Portugal, and Taiwan have plans for tenders of similar scale, if less advanced. So clearly, there are opportunities for projects to get funded and built for switch-on, if not by 2030, then between 2031 and 2035.<\/p>\n
However, there may be other reasons, specific to floating, for its slow progress. For a start, value chains for floating wind differ from bottom-fixed. Only a part of the industrial construction base around shallow-sea areas suitable for bottom-fixed foundations \u2013 Northwestern Europe and the East and South China Seas \u2013 carry over into floating wind. Many deep dives into the cost reductions achieved in bottom-fixed offshore wind revealed that the lion\u2019s share was due to the increasing size and power of wind turbines.<\/p>\n
The industry achieved great reductions in CapEx per MW by using fewer turbines for a given power. In a nutshell, operations on fewer turbines reduced overall costs, even if each operation was more expensive due to turbine size and weight.<\/p>\n
2023 saw records for wind turbine power. The two most powerful machines today are 16MW, commissioned and operated as prototypes in larger offshore wind farms off China.<\/p>\n
The first deployed, Goldwind\u2019s 252-16MW, beat the world record in 24-hour power output previously held by the V236-15MW of Vestas and before that, Siemens Gamesa\u2019s SG14-222DD, both set during onshore testing at Denmark\u2019s \u00d8sterild prototyping facility. MingYang\u2019s also 16MW-rated machine has a 260m rotor. The same company leads in new machines with the MingYang 22MW, which will have a \u201831x-meter rotor and be commercially available for 2024\/25 deployment.<\/p>\n
Today, 15- to 18MW-rated turbines are becoming part of new planned offshore developments, but only on bottom-fixed foundations.<\/p>\n
This is because, with floaters, different design criteria apply when scaling up to bigger turbines. One often overlooked aspect is that bigger, taller, and heavier turbines will increase the loads on floating support more than for the monopiles that carry most fixed offshore turbines. To keep a floater safe for a bigger turbine, it needs to be made larger and sturdier, with more construction steel (or concrete, which always includes steel rebars) in the structure, to keep its hydrodynamic stability. But this increases its weight, thus higher cost, also per MW.<\/p>\n
Therefore, scaling up a floating wind system requires iterated, often complex design, verification and re-design loops and is a challenge. W2Power offers an advantage in that a pair of, e.g., 10MW turbines creates less of an overturning moment than one single 20MW turbine.<\/p>\n
The large number of floating concepts in (often quite early) stages of development has also been said to pose a barrier to commercialisation9<\/sup>. Too much diversity can prevent supply chains from adapting their manufacturing and restrict turbine OEMs\u2019 ability to adjust components for floating systems. The direction of technology development dictates port infrastructures, but they find it hard to plan in the absence of one leading technology.<\/p>\nIn sum, this uncertainty limits banks’ ability to mitigate or reduce real or perceived technology risks. However, this argument is somewhat flawed since all the floating arrays built to date are very far from commercial; their LCoE and CapEx count in multiples of those for bottom-fixed wind farms. It would be wrong to pick the \u2018most mature\u2019 because they may be dead-end technologies regarding their ability to scale.<\/p>\n
Only when the industry can settle on relatively mature technologies and have a favourable outlook for cost reduction by industrialisation will the floating wind sector benefit from the standardisation process enjoyed in other, more mature industries.<\/p>\n
Classification and certification<\/h3>\n The classification societies could be vital in bringing about many of the needed advances for floating. These non-governmental organisations establish and maintain technical standards for all floating structures.<\/p>\nFig. 3. Logos of the six most important classification societies for offshore wind in order of their date of establishment: Lloyd\u2019s Register (London 1760), Bureau Veritas (Antwerp\/Paris 1828), RINA (Genova 1861), American Bureau of Shipping (Houston 1862), DNV (Oslo 1864), and ClassNK (Tokyo 1899)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nClassification societies certify that vessels\u2019 construction complies with relevant standards and regularly survey in-service structures to ensure continuing compliance with the standards. Well known in the maritime sector, where insurers and investors rely on their services for all structures in use on the world\u2019s seas, these have not had a prominent role in most forms of renewable energy, primarily terrestrial.<\/p>\n
With offshore wind, and especially floating, this is changing.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, the classification societies have been the \u2018auditors\u2019 of naval engineering. They ensured design, construction, and operations were conducted according to well-defined and documented regulations.<\/p>\n
Today, they are playing an increasingly crucial role in developing and implementing floating offshore wind projects and technologies. They perform studies and services such as:<\/p>\n
\nTechnical assessment <\/strong>of floating wind turbine designs, including structural integrity, fatigue, and load analysis. These assessments help to ensure their safety, reliability, and performance.<\/li>\nCertification services <\/strong>for floating wind structures and components. This includes certification of design, production, installation, and O&M (operations and maintenance) processes.<\/li>\nRisk management <\/strong>for Offshore Wind projects, already established for bottom-fixed, helping developers, investors, and operators to assess and manage risk. For floating, it also includes assessments of the units’ design, construction, installation, operation, and frequent environmental evaluations.<\/li>\nStandards development <\/strong>includes new industry standards for floating offshore wind. The development of standards for the design, construction, operation and standards for offshore grid infrastructure is already established.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nMost certification bodies also do advisory services, e.g., project management, environmental impact assessments, and regulatory compliance, and they perform R&D to improve their services.<\/p>\n
Approval in Principle (AiP) versus Basic Design Approval (BDA)<\/h3>\n The companies offer various levels of certification, but the distinctions between these are not always well understood in the renewable energy market. Here, we review two important ones for floating wind.<\/p>\n
As mentioned, there are many proposed floating concepts, some of which are mere design ideas. The first step to maturity is an \u2018Approval in Principle\u2019, also known as a \u2018Statement of Feasibility\u2019.<\/p>\n
Only a few have achieved full design approval from a classification society, such as the \u2018Basic Design Approval\u2019 (the names are those used by BV and DNV and may differ, but the content is essentially the same).<\/p>\n
Approval in Principle (AiP) is a preliminary assessment of a design, indicating that it meets relevant rules and regulations set by the classification society. An AiP is a non-binding evaluation and does not guarantee future approval for construction. AiP is a valuable tool for offshore operators, designers, and builders, as it provides an early assessment of the feasibility and compliance of their design with the relevant standards, which are constantly evolving.<\/p>\n
Basic Design Approval (BDA) is the final approval of a design and the authorisation to proceed with the construction of the asset. A BDA is only granted after a comprehensive design review, including detailed calculations, drawings, and specifications. The BDA is a binding evaluation and certifies that the design meets all the relevant safety, environmental, and performance requirements set by the classification society.<\/p>\n
In short, the first step (AiP, SoF, or similar names used by other classification societies) provides an early evaluation of the design’s feasibility and compliance with the relevant standards. This can be obtained based on limited or initial design calculations and drawings. It is relatively cheap, so small companies and start-ups achieve them, often exaggerating their importance to tempt investors.<\/p>\n
A design approval, however, represents the final verification of a design and implies an authorisation to proceed to large-scale construction. A BDA results from thousands of engineering hours, drawing on comprehensive and sophisticated simulations, model tank testing and often strong involvement by the wind turbine generator (WTG) supplier. If the technology certified is based on a well-proven WTG for offshore use and a well-known mooring design, the risk of surprises is further minimised.<\/p>\n
A recent certification of this advanced type is that of Enerocean\u2019s W2Power. As reported in the specialist press at the end of 202310<\/sup>, with scenes from the public awarding ceremony illustrated in Fig. 4, the W2Power technology is proceeding to a full-size demonstrator located in a commercial port.<\/p>\nCredit: Bureau Veritas Spain Fig. 4. Scenes from BDA certificate award ceremony with BV and Enerocean representatives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHaving received the AiP from BV in 2021, the mature and now certified W2Power design offers the floating industry\u2019s highest MW power per tonnage rating, a useful proxy for the lowest cost. The received design approval covers a total power of 11-15MW on one floater, and drawing on the learnings from certification and the relative ease of further scaling-up by using two turbines as mentioned above, the fully commercial design for Enerocean\u2019s future pipeline has since been upgraded to 20+ MW.<\/p>\n
One benefit of the certification process of being on known ground, apart from reaping the benefits of decades of design and operational excellence, is the availability of advanced software simulation tools, which, with very high confidence levels, can predict how a structure will behave in any kind of weather.<\/p>\n
This is why classification societies consider a floating wind design based on well-known design principles and having reached a detail and maturity level sufficient for achieving a Basic Design Approval as having a high TRL. Experience in wave-tank testing and the optimisation of scale models allows the certification body to calibrate and verify floater motions and loads for further confidence and the technology developer to move forward with greater confidence in realising.<\/p>\n
For Enerocean, this certification represents the completion of a comprehensive assessment of critical elements of the W2Power design, which is currently moving to full-size commercial installations.<\/p>\nFig. 5: Key Bureau Veritas and Enerocean personnel involved in the Design Certificate process at the public announcement in December 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe design assessment that BV has now completed on Enerocean\u2019s W2Power ensures that best practices have been adequately implemented. The review includes documents (drawings, analysis and specifications) demonstrating that the design complies with regulations and design codes \u2013 with a view to its later construction. Documentation includes the design methodologies and preliminary analyses, illustrating the analytical method used in the detailed design phase.<\/p>\n
In a situation where a nascent industry is struggling to make its mark versus investors and policymakers, the growing importance of high-level certification to new promising technologies on the path to commercialisation is a big step forward.<\/p>\nCredit: Enerocean Fig. 6. Process used by BV and Enerocean leading to design certification, 2021-23<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFor the offshore wind industry, it is key in the following years to ensure that public incentives and commercial investments go to technologies that have proven their technical performance and simultaneously possess a natural ability to address the cost-reduction challenges successfully.<\/p>\n
References<\/h4>\n\n\u00d8rsted (J\u00f8rgen Skovmose Madsen, Head of EU Regulatory Affairs)<\/li>\n Wind Europe, 12 January 2024<\/li>\n Global Energy Monitor: A Race to the Top, China 2023<\/li>\n US DoE report on floating wind 2023<\/li>\n \u2018Global floating offshore wind pipeline grows by one-third over 12 months\u2019, Renewable UK<\/li>\n \u2018Floating wind\u2019s embryonic state means small contribution this decade\u2019, Windpower Monthly<\/li>\n Deployment of innovative renewable energy technologies to 2030, Report by EUREC and 1-Tech<\/li>\n France earmarks EUR 4.12 billion for 2024 floating wind tender, offshorewind.biz<\/li>\n Market analysis by Norton Rose Fulbright December 2023<\/li>\n BV gives design approval for Enerocean\u2019s W2Power floating wind solution, Offshore Engineer<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Learn how advanced technology certification can help speed up global deployment of cost-effective offshore floating wind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[596],"tags":[24437,622],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The importance of technology certification for growing investor confidence in floating wind power<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n