floating – Business News Updates https://newsdaily.business Tue, 06 Dec 2022 14:17:38 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://newsdaily.business/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-handshake-hand-gesture-dollar-money-finance-coin_96px-32x32.png floating - Business News Updates https://newsdaily.business 32 32 Sale jumpstarts floating, offshore wind power in US waters https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/06/sale-jumpstarts-floating-offshore-wind-power-in-us-waters/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/06/sale-jumpstarts-floating-offshore-wind-power-in-us-waters/#respond Tue, 06 Dec 2022 14:17:38 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/06/sale-jumpstarts-floating-offshore-wind-power-in-us-waters/ PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Tuesday marks the first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms, in the deep waters off the West Coast. The live, online auction for the five leases — three off California’s central coast and two off its northern coast — has attracted strong interest and 43 companies from […]]]>


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Tuesday marks the first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms, in the deep waters off the West Coast.

The live, online auction for the five leases — three off California’s central coast and two off its northern coast — has attracted strong interest and 43 companies from around the world are approved to bid. The wind turbines will float roughly 25 miles offshore.

The growth of offshore wind comes as climate change intensifies and need for clean energy grows. It also is getting cheaper. The cost of developing offshore wind has dropped 60% since 2010 according to a July report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. It declined 13% in 2021 alone.

Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just beginning to ramp up off America’s coasts, and this is the nation’s first foray into floating wind turbines. Auctions so far have been for those anchored to the seafloor.

Europe has some floating offshore wind — a project in the North Sea has been operating since 2017 — but the potential for the technology is huge in areas of strong wind off America’s coasts, said Josh Kaplowitz, vice president of offshore wind at the American Clean Power Association.

“We know that this works. We know that this can provide a huge slice of our our electricity needs, and if we’re going to solve the climate crisis we need to put as many clean electrons online as we can, particularly given increases in load demand with electric vehicles,” he said. “We can reach our greenhouse gas goals only with offshore wind as part of the puzzle.”

Similar auctions are in the works off Oregon’s coast next year and in the Gulf of Maine in 2024. President Joe Biden set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 using traditional technology that secures wind turbines to the ocean floor, enough to power 10 million homes. Then the administration announced plans in September to develop floating platforms that could vastly expand offshore wind in the United States.

The nation’s first offshore wind farm opened off the coast of Rhode Island in late 2016, allowing residents of small Block Island to shut off five diesel generators. Wind advocates took notice, but with five turbines, it’s not commercial scale.

Globally, as of 2021, there were only 123 megawatts of floating offshore wind operating, but that number is projected to increase to nearly 19 gigawatts — 150 times more — by 2030, according to a report last week by Offshore Wind California.

The California sale is designed to promote a domestic supply chain and create union jobs. Bidders can convert part of their bids into credits that benefit those affected by the wind development — local communities, tribes and commercial fishermen.

As envisioned, the turbines — possibly nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower — will float on giant triangular platforms roughly the size of a small city block or buoyant cylinders with cables anchoring them underwater. They’ll each have three blades longer than the distance from home plate to the outfield on a baseball diamond, and will need to be assembled onshore and towed, upright, to their open-ocean destination.

Modern tall turbines, whether on or offshore, can produce more than 20 times more electricity than shorter machines, say, from the early 1990s.

As for visibility, “in absolutely perfect conditions, crystal clear on the best days, at the highest point, you might be able to see small dots on the horizon,” said Larry Oetker, executive director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Conservation and Recreation District, which has been preparing its deep-water port for the projects.

Offshore wind is a good complement to solar energy, which shuts down at night. Winds far out to sea are stronger and more sustained and also pick up in the evening, just when solar is going offline yet demand is high, said Jim Berger, a partner at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright who specializes in financing renewable energy projects.

California has a 2045 goal of carbon neutrality. But “when the sun goes down we’re relying more on fossil fuel generation,” Berger said. “These projects are huge so when you add a project or a couple projects, you’re adding significantly to the power generation base in the state,” he said.

The lease areas have the potential to generate 4.5 gigawatts of energy — enough for 1.5 million homes — and could bring big changes to communities in the rural coastal regions nearest the leases.

In remote Humboldt County, in northern California, the offshore projects are expected to generate more than 4,000 thousand jobs and $38 million in state and local tax revenue in an area that’s been economically depressed ever since the decline of the timber industry in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Conservation and Recreation District.

The district already received $12 million from California to prepare its deep-water port for the potential assembly of the massive turbines, which are too tall to fit under most bridges as they are towed out to sea, said Oetker, the district’s executive director.

“We have hundreds of acres of vacant, underutilized industrial property right on the existing navigation channel … and there’s no overhead bridges or power lines or anything,” he said.

But some are also wary of the projects, despite favoring a transition to clean energy.

Environmentalists are concerned about the impacts on threatened and endangered whales, which could become entangled in the cables that will anchor the turbines. There are also concerns about birds and bats colliding with the turbine blades and whales getting struck by vessels towing components to the site. Federal regulators have set a boating speed limit for the project of less than 12 mph to address that concern, said Kristen Hislop, senior director of the marine program at the Environmental Defense Center.

“Floating offshore wind is brand new and there’s only a couple projects in the world and we don’t know how that’s going to impact our coast,” she said.

Tribes in the vast coastal regions also worry about damage to their ancestral lands from turbine assembly plants and transmission infrastructure. They fear that the farms will be visible on clear days from sacred prayer spots high in the mountains.

Frankie Myers, vice chairman of the Yurok Tribe, has attended four wind developer conferences in the past year. Tribes worked with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is overseeing the leasing process, to secure a 5% bid credit that includes tribal communities for the first time, he said. The agency also helped with a cultural assessment of the potential impact on views from sacred prayer spots, he said.

The tribes are so engaged now, early on, because they are used to outside industries coming to them with promises that aren’t fulfilled. They’ve seen things done wrong, and knowing this windswept area intimately, they want this to be done right, he said.

“Before they even showed us the map, before they even showed us all of their breakdowns … we were like, ’We know exactly where it’s going,’” Myers said. “There’s no question where the best wind comes from, we all understand that. We’ve been here for a couple of thousand years.”

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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter here.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.





Read More:Sale jumpstarts floating, offshore wind power in US waters

2022-12-06 12:22:16

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Skyscraper with floating cube might come to San Francisco https://newsdaily.business/2022/10/04/skyscraper-with-floating-cube-might-come-to-san-francisco/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/10/04/skyscraper-with-floating-cube-might-come-to-san-francisco/#respond Tue, 04 Oct 2022 01:41:51 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/10/04/skyscraper-with-floating-cube-might-come-to-san-francisco/ According to planning documents, the project, 620 Folsom St., would offer 826 residential units and sit just blocks away from Salesforce Park, the Embarcadero and the Bay Bridge. “Hovering above SOMA like a subtle glowing lantern, the building’s cubic form reflects a design that is both unique and expressive of its time, but also complementary […]]]>


According to planning documents, the project, 620 Folsom St., would offer 826 residential units and sit just blocks away from Salesforce Park, the Embarcadero and the Bay Bridge. “Hovering above SOMA like a subtle glowing lantern, the building’s cubic form reflects a design that is both unique and expressive of its time, but also complementary to its historic Bay context,” the description says.   

The 54th floor would be transparent, creating the illusion that the floors above it are floating, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.)

While the tower is supposed to help provide much-needed housing, it’s not clear how much each unit would cost. If approved, it would offer 118 studio units, 118 one-bedroom units, 472 two-bedroom units and 118 three-bedroom units, though just 15% of them will be “very low income” (Developer Align Real Estate and architect Arquitectonica did not respond to SFGATE’s interview requests). 

Meanwhile, the Bay Area might be experiencing the most severe housing crisis out of all U.S. metro areas. Plan Bay Area 2040, a regional transportation and land use plan developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments, wrote that the complex issue has been decades in the making thanks to regulatory barriers and tax trends like “fiscalization of land use”: the trend of discouraging housing developments and approving high-tax retail and commercial developments instead.    

In the 1970s, permitting of housing units slowed and continued to decline over the following decades. “There has been a particular mismatch between employment growth relative to the housing supply,” the plan said. 

“Generally, however, the policy drivers — things that local, regional and state governments have the power to address or alleviate — fall into a few interrelated categories: regulatory barriers and tax policy challenges that act to restrict the production of all types of housing, especially infill development; and insufficient support for affordable housing.” 

Additionally, the housing shortage has become so dire, those with vacant properties in San Francisco might get taxed up to $5,000 under a measure on the November ballot. In 2022, a report from the city’s budget and legislative analyst revealed that more than 40,000 homes and condos in San Francisco sat empty while the city struggled to shelter 7,754 homeless residents

SFGATE news editor Amy Graff contributed to this report. 



Read More:Skyscraper with floating cube might come to San Francisco

2022-10-04 00:23:35

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The U.S. looks to rival Europe and Asia with massive floating offshore wind plan https://newsdaily.business/2022/09/16/the-u-s-looks-to-rival-europe-and-asia-with-massive-floating-offshore-wind-plan/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/09/16/the-u-s-looks-to-rival-europe-and-asia-with-massive-floating-offshore-wind-plan/#respond Fri, 16 Sep 2022 13:52:52 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/09/16/the-u-s-looks-to-rival-europe-and-asia-with-massive-floating-offshore-wind-plan/ The Block Island Wind Farm, photographed in 2016, is located in waters off the east coast of the United States. DON EMMERT | AFP | Getty Images The White House said Thursday it was targeting 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by the year 2035, as it looks to compete with Europe and Asia […]]]>


The Block Island Wind Farm, photographed in 2016, is located in waters off the east coast of the United States.

DON EMMERT | AFP | Getty Images

The White House said Thursday it was targeting 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by the year 2035, as it looks to compete with Europe and Asia in the nascent sector.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is launching coordinated actions to develop new floating offshore wind platforms, an emerging clean energy technology that will help the United States lead on offshore wind,” a statement, which was also published by U.S. Department of the Interior, said.

The announcement said the 15 GW goal would provide sufficient clean energy to power more than 5 million homes. It builds on the administration’s aim of hitting 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, an existing ambition which will mostly be met by fixed-bottom installations.

Alongside the 15 GW ambition, a “Floating Offshore Wind Shot” would “aim to reduce the costs of floating technologies by more than 70% by 2035, to $45 per megawatt-hour,” the statement added.

“Bringing floating offshore wind technology to scale will unlock new opportunities for offshore wind power off the coasts of California and Oregon, in the Gulf of Maine, and beyond,” it said.

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

Floating offshore wind turbines are different to fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines, which are rooted to the seabed. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in far deeper waters compared to fixed-bottom ones.

In a fact sheet outlining its plans, the U.S. Department of Energy said around two thirds of America’s offshore wind potential existed “over bodies of water too deep for ‘fixed-bottom’ wind turbine foundations that are secured to the sea floor.”

“Harnessing power over waters hundreds to thousands of feet deep requires floating offshore wind technology — turbines mounted to a floating foundation or platform that is anchored to the seabed with mooring lines,” it said. “These installations are among the largest rotating machines ever constructed.”

In recent years, a number of large companies have made plays in the floating offshore wind sector.

Back in 2017, Norwegian energy firm Equinor — a major player in oil and gas — opened Hywind Scotland, a five turbine, 30 megawatt facility it calls the “world’s first floating wind farm.”

Last year also saw a number of major developments in the emerging industry.

In Aug. 2021, RWE Renewables and Kansai Electric Power signed an agreement that would see the two businesses “jointly study the feasibility of a large-scale floating offshore wind project” in waters off Japan’s coast.

Norwegian company Statkraft also announced that a long-term purchasing agreement related to a large floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland, had started. And a few months later, in Dec. 2021, plans for three major offshore wind developments in Australia — two of which are slated to incorporate floating wind tech — were announced.

When it comes to offshore wind more broadly, the U.S. has a long way to go to catch up with Europe.

The country’s first offshore wind facility, the 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm, only started commercial operations in late 2016.

In comparison, Europe installed 17.4 GW of wind power capacity in 2021, according to figures from industry body WindEurope.

Change is coming, however, and in Nov. 2021 ground was broken on a project dubbed the United States’ first commercial scale offshore wind farm.



Read More:The U.S. looks to rival Europe and Asia with massive floating offshore wind plan

2022-09-16 12:23:23

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Europe’s energy giants explore potential of floating solar https://newsdaily.business/2022/07/22/europes-energy-giants-explore-potential-of-floating-solar/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/07/22/europes-energy-giants-explore-potential-of-floating-solar/#respond Fri, 22 Jul 2022 08:30:34 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/07/22/europes-energy-giants-explore-potential-of-floating-solar/ Floating solar panels in the Netherlands. A number of major energy firms are looking into the potential of combining floating solar with other energy sources. Mischa Keijser | Image Source | Getty Images German energy firm RWE is to invest in a pilot project centered around the deployment of floating solar technology in the North […]]]>


Floating solar panels in the Netherlands. A number of major energy firms are looking into the potential of combining floating solar with other energy sources.

Mischa Keijser | Image Source | Getty Images

German energy firm RWE is to invest in a pilot project centered around the deployment of floating solar technology in the North Sea, as part of a wider collaboration focused on the development of “floating solar parks.”

Set to be installed in waters off Ostend, Belgium, the pilot, called Merganser, will have a capacity of 0.5 megawatt peak, or MWp. In a statement earlier this week, RWE said Merganser would be Dutch-Norwegian firm SolarDuck’s first offshore pilot.

RWE said Merganser would provide both itself and SolarDuck with “important first-hand experience in one of the most challenging offshore environments in the world.”

Learnings gleaned from the project would allow for a quicker commercialization of the technology from 2023, it added.

RWE described SolarDuck’s system as being based around a design enabling the solar panels to “float” meters above water and ride waves “like a carpet.” 

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

A longer term goal of the collaboration is for SolarDuck’s technology to be used in a bigger demonstration project at the yet to be developed Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm, which RWE is currently tendering for.

In its statement, RWE said the “integration of offshore floating solar into an offshore wind farm” was “a more efficient use of ocean space for energy generation.”

The idea of combining wind and solar is not unique to RWE. The Hollandse Kust (noord) wind farm, which will also be located in the North Sea, is also planning to deploy a floating solar technology demonstration.

CrossWind, the consortium working on Hollandse Kust (noord), is a joint venture between Eneco and Shell.

Earlier this month, Portuguese energy firm EDP inaugurated a 5 MW floating solar park in Alqueva. It described the park, which consists of nearly 12,000 photovoltaic panels, as “the largest in Europe in a reservoir.”

The project would enable solar power and hydroelectric energy from the dam at Alqueva to be combined, EDP said. There are also plans to install a battery storage system.

All the above projects feed into the idea of “hybridization,” whereby different renewable energy technologies and systems are combined on one site.

In comments published last week, EDP CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade said that “the bet on hybridization, by combining electricity produced from water, sun, wind and storage” represented a “logical path of growth.”

EDP would continue to invest in hybridization because it optimized resources and enabled the company to produce energy that was cheaper, he added.



Read More:Europe’s energy giants explore potential of floating solar

2022-07-22 05:21:15

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British government invests £32M in floating offshore wind to cut natural gas dependency https://newsdaily.business/2022/01/25/british-government-invests-32m-in-floating-offshore-wind-to-cut-natural-gas-dependency/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/01/25/british-government-invests-32m-in-floating-offshore-wind-to-cut-natural-gas-dependency/#respond Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:09:40 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/01/25/british-government-invests-32m-in-floating-offshore-wind-to-cut-natural-gas-dependency/ The British government today announced that it will provide £31.6 million ($42.5 million) to fund the development of floating offshore wind projects in order to reduce the UK’s dependency on increasingly expensive natural gas. UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now […]]]>


The British government today announced that it will provide £31.6 million ($42.5 million) to fund the development of floating offshore wind projects in order to reduce the UK’s dependency on increasingly expensive natural gas.


UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.


British floating offshore wind

The government funding will be matched by a further £30 million in private investment to advance clean energy deployment. The UK government website states:

The UK government is today (Tuesday, 25 January) announcing 11 successful projects that will each be awarded up to £10 million as it puts forward £31.6 million to boost the amount of clean renewable energy generated in the country. In addition to this, industry will match the investment bringing the total to over £60 million – driving green energy investment and levelling up parts of the country including in Aberdeen, Swansea, and Yorkshire.

Energy Minister Greg Hands said:

These innovative projects will help us expand renewable energy further and faster across the UK and help to reduce our exposure to volatile global gas prices.

Specifically, the money will be used for floating offshore wind research and development. Floating offshore wind costs more than fixed offshore wind, but costs are expected to fall as more floating offshore wind farms are deployed and technology advances.

The 11 projects that will receive funding to develop new floating wind technologies include:

  • A novel anchoring system that will secure floating turbine cables to the seabed at a fraction of the weight of some existing anchors
  • A mooring system that will simplify the initial installation of floating turbines and enable simple disconnection when maintenance is required
  • The development of a floating foundation with a small footprint and integrated wave energy generator to improve power quality

The UK already leads the world in offshore wind deployment and wants to expand the clean energy source further with floating offshore wind, as that enables wind farms to be located in deeper waters.

Electrek’s Take

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? If expensive natural gas spurred on Boris Johnson’s Tory government and private industry to invest in floating offshore wind technology, then great. Everyone needs to get off natural gas anyway in order to reduce emissions.

The whole world should benefit from the UK’s pursuit of floating offshore wind innovation, as no doubt that technology will eventually be shared and/or copied. This is a win not just for the UK, but for everyone.

Read more: World’s largest offshore floating wind farm is now complete

Photo: Kincardine offshore floating wind, Scotland

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Read More:British government invests £32M in floating offshore wind to cut natural gas dependency

2022-01-25 16:26:00

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Crazy Floating Renewable Energy Gizmo https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/27/crazy-floating-renewable-energy-gizmo/ https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/27/crazy-floating-renewable-energy-gizmo/#respond Sat, 27 Nov 2021 01:46:01 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/27/crazy-floating-renewable-energy-gizmo/ When the German company SINN Power first introduced its floating hybrid renewable energy platform last year, the news caused barely a ripple. Now suddenly everyone is talking about the company’s so-named Ocean Hybrid Platform, including us. We’re calling it the Swiss Army Knife of clean power because it combines wind, solar, and wave energy all […]]]>


When the German company SINN Power first introduced its floating hybrid renewable energy platform last year, the news caused barely a ripple. Now suddenly everyone is talking about the company’s so-named Ocean Hybrid Platform, including us. We’re calling it the Swiss Army Knife of clean power because it combines wind, solar, and wave energy all in one delicate-looking package. However, looks can be deceiving, and perhaps this spring chicken is no shrinking violet after all.

Renewable Energy, Saltwater Edition

The new hubub over SINN Power’s floating clean power contraption was probably sparked by an article posted on the company’s website earlier this week.

In the article, SINN Power notes that the idea of floating solar arrays on freshwater bodies has taken off like a rocket in recent years, but is not so easily transferred to the ocean environment, which can be somewhat more hostile.

“While freshwater floating PV is being installed in more than 40 countries worldwide, seawater floating PV is a new market. In contrast to freshwater floating PV, providers of seawater floating PV are confronted with harsh environments, where the widely known conventional systems will fail.”

Still, the oceangoing solar array is a tantalizing prize compared to the potential offered by freshwater resources.

For example, hydropower reservoirs represent one low-hanging, freshwater fruit targeted by floating solar developers. SINN takes note of  a study by the US Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, indicating that the global potential of floating solar in that scenario is 7.6 terrawatts. That sounds impressive but the potential for offshore solar development in the seven seas is even more impressive.

A global estimate is yet to be forthcoming, but SINN points out that the offshore solar potential for The Netherlands alone is 45 gigawatts.

What’s Wrong With Floating Solar Panels?

Good question! Nothing is wrong with floating solar panels on water. In fact, when the scenario involves reservoirs and other freshwater infrastructure, solar panels can help conserve water by reducing evaporation.

When designed in concert with aquatic life, solar panels can also provide for shaded areas that improve biodiversity.

However, as SINN points out, the technology used on freshwater bodies does not require hardening against waves and other stormy conditions typical of ocean environments or, for that matter, large lakes.

“As the possibility of extreme weather events rises, these systems are in danger of failing. Depending on the extent of damage, consequences will range from loss of revenue up to a complete loss of investment. Therefore, current freshwater solutions face restrictions in deployments at sea, partly even in protected coastal areas and big lakes,” SINN emphasizes.

The solution SINN offers is a flexible design that can accommodate wave heights of up to 12 meters and winds speeds of 27 meters per second. SINN also claims that the skeleton of the structure can take on wind speeds of up to 60 meters per second.

That’s not exactly hurricane strength, but it does open up the potential to plumb offshore waters in bays and other sheltered areas for renewable energy. It’s also possible that SINN’s offshore platform could be shuttered or towed to safety when extreme weather threatens, considering that it provides for small and medium-sized deployment as well as large-scale arrays.

As for use cases, SINN is casting a wide net.

“Potential use cases for project developers include the complementation of offshore wind parks to increase baseload capacity, providing RE to aquacultures, the hydrogen production, or simply producing electricity for coastal areas, remote islands and many more,” says Dr. Philipp Sinn, the company’s CEO.

More Offshore Renewable For The Sparkling Green Economy Of The Future

If SINN Power wants to compete in the big leagues, the company has its work cut for it. The European Union has already glommed on to the idea of combining several types of renewable energy generation in one offshore array, through its EU-SCORES clean power initiative. Ireland’s Western Star offshore wind energy project is also looking to hook up with wave energy.

The idea is to get a green power twofer (or threefer, in SINN’s case), to help reduce the overall impact of offshore renewable energy development on the marine environment. Combining more than one type of renewable energy technology in one platform will also help create new efficiencies for onshoring the electricity.

US developers are eyballing the idea of co-locating offshore wind farms with floating solar panels, too, so stay tuned for more on that.

In the meantime, SINN Power has been testing out its clean power hybrid platform in the Greek port of Heraklion since 2015, with a sharp focus on the wave energy converters.

As those of you familiar with the wave energy field may appreciate, the wave conversion devices are probably the trickiest part of the venture. It appears that SINN has been deploying off-the-shelf wind turbines at the test site, and a similar approach for the solar panels may also be in the works. In contrast, SINN is relying on its own patented technology for the wave energy converters.

More Offshore Renewable Energy For The US

Even without the added benefit of solar and/or wave energy, the offshore wind market is set to take off by leaps and bounds now that the US has busted out of its logjam.

In the latest development on that score, yesterday the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the proposed South Fork Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island.

Compared to Dogger Bank and other massive offshore wind  turbine arrays overseas, South Fork clocks is a relatively modest project clocking in at 130 megawatts. However, the approval is highly significant because it represents the second proposal in the pipeline under BOEM’s new streamlined process for offshore wind approvals.

Rhode Island is among the tiniest of US states, but it already lays claim to getting the nation’s first offshore wind array up and running. That would be the 30-megawatt Block Island offshore wind array, which predated BOEM’s new process and somehow managed to slip under the radar of renewable energy opponents.

Now, under BOEM’s new process, the 130-megawatt South Fork project follows the Vineyard Wind project in Massachusetts, which will come in at 800 megawatts.

That’s the tip of the iceberg. In all, the Biden-Harris administration anticipates that a total of 19 gigawatts in offshore wind will gain approval by 2025.

Though it’s not clear from the BOEM press release, that figure probably refers to 16 projects in the Atlantic coast pipeline. The Pacific coast and the Gulf of Mexico are next in line, along with the Gulf of Maine and offshore areas in Hawaii.

All of that activity translates into thousands of new wind turbines, including floating wind turbines suitable for deeper waters. No word yet on whether or not solar panels and wave energy converters will be part of the mix, but the prospects for more offshore renewable energy mashups are already looking good.

Follow me on Twitter: @TinaMCasey.

Image: Rendering of hybrid offshore renewable energy platform courtesy of SINN Power.


 

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Read More:Crazy Floating Renewable Energy Gizmo

2021-11-26 19:44:50

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Equinor pulls out of Ireland, and a $2.3B floating offshore wind farm https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/05/equinor-pulls-out-of-ireland-and-a-2-3b-floating-offshore-wind-farm/ https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/05/equinor-pulls-out-of-ireland-and-a-2-3b-floating-offshore-wind-farm/#respond Fri, 05 Nov 2021 17:58:55 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/05/equinor-pulls-out-of-ireland-and-a-2-3b-floating-offshore-wind-farm/ Norwegian wind giant Equinor is not only pulling out of what would be the Atlantic’s first floating offshore wind farm, it’s also pulling out of doing business in Ireland altogether. Equinor leaves Ireland In 2019, Equinor partnered with the Irish utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB). In April, they jointly announced they would build a €2 […]]]>


Norwegian wind giant Equinor is not only pulling out of what would be the Atlantic’s first floating offshore wind farm, it’s also pulling out of doing business in Ireland altogether.

Equinor leaves Ireland

In 2019, Equinor partnered with the Irish utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB). In April, they jointly announced they would build a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) 1.4-GW floating offshore wind farm off the Clare and Kerry coasts, the Atlantic Ocean’s first offshore wind farm, as Electrek reported

The plan was to turn Moneypoint coal power station in Clare – Ireland’s only coal-fired power station – into a multibillion-euro green energy hub. It was expected to be online within the next 10 years and would supply power to more than 1.6 million Irish homes, according to ESB.

But Equinor has pulled out of the project, and out of Ireland. According to the Irish Examiner, Equinor has abandoned wind plans in Ireland due to “dissatisfaction with the regulatory and planning regime.”

In other words, red tape.

An Equinor spokesperson told the Examiner, “We won’t comment in detail on how much the regulatory process was involved in the company decision.”

The Examiner called Equinor’s departure a “major blow” for offshore wind energy production.

Irish government and wind industry reaction

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath told Irish radio station Newstalk:

There is a need to change the regulatory and the planning system. We are doing that. We have legislation going through the Oireachtas [legislature] at the moment – The Maritime Area Planning Bill, which for the first time will have a dedicated system in place to address planning issues in respect of all maritime matters, including offshore renewable energy.

We will be backing that up with investment. We will have a renewable energy auction next year in this area and we do expect by 2025 we will see actual offshore renewable developments in place.

McGrath shrugged off Equinor’s departure, saying, “I wouldn’t be too perturbed by that particular development,” because he asserted that there are many companies eager to get into the Irish wind market.

Irish wind industry representative body Wind Energy Ireland CEO Noel Cunniffe said [via the Examiner]:

We are sorry to see one of the world’s leading energy companies pulling out of Ireland, but it is important to remember we still have some of the best offshore wind energy resources in the world and a growing pipeline of projects.

But this decision simply underlines what we have been saying for some time. We are not reforming Ireland’s planning and regulatory framework quickly enough to develop the offshore wind we will need to meet the targets in the Climate Action Plan.

This is leading to a lack of confidence in the industry and our international supply chain that Government must address.

Ireland’s goal is to source 80% of its electricity from clean energy by 2030. 


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Read More:Equinor pulls out of Ireland, and a $2.3B floating offshore wind farm

2021-11-05 15:51:00

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Equinor has a new floating wind turbine design, and it’s Scotland-bound https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/02/equinor-has-a-new-floating-wind-turbine-design-and-its-scotland-bound/ https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/02/equinor-has-a-new-floating-wind-turbine-design-and-its-scotland-bound/#respond Tue, 02 Nov 2021 17:45:46 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2021/11/02/equinor-has-a-new-floating-wind-turbine-design-and-its-scotland-bound/ Norway-headquartered energy giant Equinor has a new floating wind turbine foundation design, and it wants to launch it in a one-gigawatt (GW) Scottish offshore wind farm project. If Equinor is successful in its bid for ScotWind, which is an offshore wind program that will lease areas of the seabed around Scotland for wind farm developments up […]]]>


Norway-headquartered energy giant Equinor has a new floating wind turbine foundation design, and it wants to launch it in a one-gigawatt (GW) Scottish offshore wind farm project.

If Equinor is successful in its bid for ScotWind, which is an offshore wind program that will lease areas of the seabed around Scotland for wind farm developments up to 10 GW, then it will use its new floating wind turbine foundation design there.

Its new design is called the Wind Semi. Equinor says it’s suitable for rough waters, like those off the Scottish coast, and it can “maximize the opportunities for the Scottish supply chain.” Equinor asserts the following about the Wind Semi:

  • Increased dependability: By introducing a passive ballast system, the Wind Semi has a simple substructure design, reducing the risk of system failure and the amount of maintenance needed
  • Simpler, more robust design: A flat plate design that is free from bracings, heave plates, and complicated nodes that are prone to fatigue cracking
  • Flexibility toward the supply chain: With a harbor draught of less than 10 m, the Wind Semi’s turbine integration can be assembled at most industrialized ports. The Wind Semi’s simpler flat plate design enables the substructure to be built in blocks that can either be fabricated locally and/or shipped from other locations. 

Sonja C. Indrebø, Equinor’s vice president of floating offshore wind, said:

We are ready to develop the next generation, large-scale commercial floating offshore wind in Scotland. By leveraging our 20 years of floating offshore wind experience and innovations, we plan to develop GW-size floating projects in one single phase. Implementing large scale projects will accelerate Scotland’s energy transition to net zero.

At 1GW, this project would be over 30 times bigger than Hywind Scotland, the UK’s and Equinor’s first floating project and have the potential to not only position Scotland as a leader in deep water technology, but also create opportunities for both existing suppliers and new entrants to the offshore wind sector.

Hywind Scotland was Equinor’s and the UK’s first floating offshore wind farm, at 30 MW. It went live in 2017.

Read more: Europe’s North Sea is getting a huge floating wind turbine


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Read More:Equinor has a new floating wind turbine design, and it’s Scotland-bound

2021-11-02 17:22:51

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‘World’s largest floating wind farm’ takes another step forward https://newsdaily.business/2021/09/21/worlds-largest-floating-wind-farm-takes-another-step-forward/ https://newsdaily.business/2021/09/21/worlds-largest-floating-wind-farm-takes-another-step-forward/#respond Tue, 21 Sep 2021 15:47:05 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2021/09/21/worlds-largest-floating-wind-farm-takes-another-step-forward/ Norway’s Statkraft said Tuesday that a long-term purchasing agreement related to a floating offshore wind farm dubbed “the world’s largest” had started, in another step forward for the energy sector. The Kincardine Offshore Windfarm is a six turbine, 50 megawatt facility located in waters off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. Turbine installation for the project […]]]>


Norway’s Statkraft said Tuesday that a long-term purchasing agreement related to a floating offshore wind farm dubbed “the world’s largest” had started, in another step forward for the energy sector.

The Kincardine Offshore Windfarm is a six turbine, 50 megawatt facility located in waters off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. Turbine installation for the project — which Statkraft described as “the world’s largest floating wind farm” — was recently completed.

A power purchase agreement between Statkraft and developer Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Ltd, signed in 2018 but which now enters into force, will see the former buy “all electrical output from the floating wind project with a guaranteed minimum price per MWh [megawatt hour] until 2029.”

According to Statkraft, which is owned by the Norwegian state, the KOWL project will send more than 200,000 megawatt hours to the grid each year. This, it said, would be enough to power more than 50,000 homes.

“This is the first floating project that Statkraft has been involved in and we expect more to follow,” John Puddephatt, Statkraft’s manager for long term PPA origination, said in a statement.

The technology, Puddephatt said, “could help countries around the world achieve their renewable energy targets.”

Read more about clean energy from CNBC Pro

Statkraft is one of several major companies involved with floating offshore wind projects. Back in 2017 another Norwegian energy business, Equinor, opened Hywind Scotland, a 30 megawatt facility it calls “the first full-scale floating offshore wind farm.”

Earlier this month, a joint venture centered around the development of a massive floating offshore wind farm in waters off South Korea was formally established.

Oil and gas major Shell has an 80% stake in the JV, which is called MunmuBaram, with the remaining 20% held by CoensHexicon.

In a statement at the time, Shell said the project was in “a feasibility assessment stage.” If built, the 1.4 gigawatt wind farm would be situated between 65 and 80 kilometers off Ulsan, a coastal city and industrial hub in the south east of South Korea.

In August, it was announced that RWE Renewables and Kansai Electric Power had signed an agreement that will see the two businesses study the feasibility of a large-scale floating offshore wind project in waters off Japan’s coast.

Floating offshore wind turbines are different to bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines that are rooted to the seabed. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in deeper waters compared to bottom-fixed ones.

RWE has described floating turbines as being “deployed on top of floating structures that are secured to the seabed with mooring lines and anchors.”



Read More:‘World’s largest floating wind farm’ takes another step forward

2021-09-21 14:48:56

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Floating wind turbines could open up vast ocean tracts for renewable power | Environment https://newsdaily.business/2021/08/29/floating-wind-turbines-could-open-up-vast-ocean-tracts-for-renewable-power-environment/ https://newsdaily.business/2021/08/29/floating-wind-turbines-could-open-up-vast-ocean-tracts-for-renewable-power-environment/#respond Sun, 29 Aug 2021 14:27:18 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2021/08/29/floating-wind-turbines-could-open-up-vast-ocean-tracts-for-renewable-power-environment/

In the stormy waters of the North Sea, 15 miles off the coast of Aberdeenshire, in Scotland, five floating offshore wind turbines stretch 574 feet (175 metres) above the water. The world’s first floating windfarm, a 30 megawatt facility run by the Norwegian company Equinor, has only been in operation since 2017 but has already broken UK records for energy output.

While most offshore wind turbines are anchored to the ocean floor on fixed foundations, limiting them to depths of about 165ft, floating turbines are tethered to the seabed by mooring lines. These enormous structures are assembled on land and pulled out to sea by boats.

The ability to install turbines in deeper waters, where winds tend to be stronger, opens up huge amounts of the ocean to generate renewable wind power: close to 80% of potential offshore wind power is found in deeper waters. In addition, positioning floating turbines much further off the coast helps avoid conflicts with those who object to their impact on coastal views.

Floating offshore wind is still in its early stages: only about 80 megawatts of a total of about 32 gigawatts (0.25%) of installed offshore wind capacity is floating. But some experts say the relatively new technology could become an important part of the renewables mix, if it can overcome hurdles including cost, design and opposition from the fishing industry.

The US has traditionally lagged behind Europe when it comes to offshore wind power, but that may be changing. Joe Biden has pledged to build more than 30GW of offshore wind by 2030. The Department of Energy says it has invested more than $100m in researching and developing floating offshore wind technology in an attempt to establish itself as a leader in the sector.

While the reliable winds and relatively shallow waters of the US east coast have made it the favored target for offshore wind projects, such as the recently approved large-scale Vineyard Wind off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, on the west coast the waters are mostly too deep for fixed-platform turbines. It’s here that advocates hope floating wind will take off.

In May, the Biden administration and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced a plan to bring floating offshore wind to California. They have identified two sites: a nearly 400-square mile area north-west of Morro Bay, which could host 380 floating wind turbines, and another further north off Humboldt Bay. Together these projects could bring up to 4.6GW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power 1.6m homes.

“[The announcement] was a real breakthrough,” said Adam Stern, executive director of the trade association Offshore Wind California. “At a time when the effects of climate change are evident in California every day, in the form of wildfires and drought conditions,” he said, “offshore wind can provide clean, reliable electricity for millions of California residents.”

The International Energy Agency estimates that for the world to stay on the pathway to carbon neutrality by 2050 it needs to add 390GW of wind power (80GW of which would be offshore) every year between 2030 and 2050.

It’s a big jump from current numbers, especially for the offshore wind industry, which installed just over 6GW of new capacity in 2020. But wind power has been growing as costs fall and countries look to move away from fossil fuels to meet climate goals.

How much floating wind will factor in is unclear. Countries including Norway, Portugal, South Korea and Japan are installing or planning floating wind projects, with more than 26GW of capacity estimated to be in the pipeline, according to one estimate.

“Without a doubt wind is a big part of the solution for going to zero,” said Michael Webber, an energy expert and engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. But he believes floating wind is likely to take time to scale up, predicting that onshore wind and fixed-bottom offshore wind would dominate for the next decade.

Big hurdles certainly remain. Cost is a significant one. Floating offshore wind generation costs are about double those of fixed offshore wind, although these are expected to fall as technology advances and supply chains improve. Estimates by the research body the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) suggest floating turbine projects could achieve cost parity with their fixed-bottom counterparts around 2030.

One wrinkle is the number of designs to anchor the floating turbines, which some experts believe will make it harder to drive down costs.

Three floating wind turbine designs: spar, semisubmersible and tension leg platforms
Three of the main floating wind turbine designs include the spar-buoy (left), the semisubmersible (center) and the tension leg platforms (right). Photograph: Joshua Bauer/NREL

There are three main designs. The spar-buoy – the design of the Hywind floating turbines in Scotland – has a long, weighted cylinder tube which extends down from the turbine and below the ocean’s surface to balance it. Semi-submersible platforms, which are the most common for installed and planned projects, are modular and made up of floating cylindrical structures secured by mooring lines. The tension-leg structure has a smaller platform anchored to the seabed with taut mooring lines.

“I’ve lost count of how many concepts are actually out there,” said Po Wen Cheng, head of wind energy at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. “Ford didn’t make the car affordable for the big masses by making 30 different types of car – they just made a Model T. If we really want to lower the cost, we cannot tolerate so many different concepts,” he said.

Parts of the fishing industry have also expressed concerns that offshore wind could interfere with their equipment, obstruct fishing areas and negatively affect their livelihoods.

Semi-submersibale floating wind turbines off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
Semi-submersibale floating wind turbines off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Photograph: Hugo Amaral/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

The first floating windfarm in the US may end up in Maine, where the University of Maine, RWE Renewables and the Mitsubishi subsidiary Diamond Offshore Wind are developing a small demonstration project that would generate 12MW of energy.

It has faced enormous opposition from lobster fishers who say the turbines interfere with their business. They reached a compromise in July: this pilot project will go ahead but the state legislature approved a ban on new industrial wind projects in state waters until March 2031.

Fishermen have rung alarm bells about California’s projects, too. “Far too many questions remain unanswered regarding potential impacts to marine life,” said Mike Conroy, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations in a May statement about plans for floating wind in the state.

Walt Musial, NREL’s lead of offshore wind research, said even a large-scale deployment of offshore wind along the east or west coast would take up only a tiny portion of the ocean and turbines would be carefully sited. But he stressed the continued need for good communication “to ensure optimal coexistence and to help the fishing community adapt and continue to access the space within the turbines for fishing”.

The California government foresees offering commercial leases for Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay next year. Stern is hopeful that floating offshore wind would create thousands of well-paying clean energy jobs in the state, as well as accelerating the retirement of natural gas plants, reducing pollution in communities that disproportionately bear the burden of environmental impacts.

“There are a lot of challenges to get floating wind turbines running in US waters,” said Po Wen Cheng, “but there’s no doubt about the potential.”



Read More:Floating wind turbines could open up vast ocean tracts for renewable power | Environment

2021-08-29 12:02:00

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