Innovation is at its best in moments of crisis, and as countries around the world commit to dramatically slashing carbon emissions to tackle the climate emergency, solutions are rapidly evolving.

Floating offshore wind energy is the latest low carbon technology to enjoy explosive growth, and while the UK takes the lead in developing its potential, it’s already clear that it will have global impact.

What is it?

Unlike its fixed-bottom wind turbine counterparts secured directly to the seabed, floating wind turbines sit on floating substructures which are held in situ using an anchoring system. Fixed-bottom turbines are usually installed in waters less than 50m in depth, whereas floating turbines can be located at greater depths, including water further offshore with stronger wind resources.

The Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence

The Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOWCoE) was created in 2019 by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the UK’s leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy, as a collaborative work programme to reduce the cost of energy from floating wind and accelerate its commercialisation.

The group of innovative industry, government and academic experts is examining how to develop commercial-scale arrays of floating turbines that will deliver the UK’s target of 5GW of floating offshore wind by 2030. The Climate Change Committee suggest the UK would require 100GW of offshore wind to deliver net zero – 50% of which could be floating wind – by 2050.

Ralph Torr, floating wind programme manager at ORE Catapult, said: “Over the first three years, the FOWCoE has committed £5.5m and supported 20 floating wind projects. It builds on the experience and expertise of the UK as the world’s leading floating offshore wind market.”

The FOWCoE has identified significant large-scale deployment potential for floating wind around Scotland, North East England and the Celtic Sea.

Challenges and opportunities

With a delivery target of 100GW offshore wind by 2050, the scale of deployment needed over the next 30 years presents a significant industrial challenge for the UK as installed capacity increases tenfold.

This also presents unprecedented economic opportunity. The UK already leads the way in floating offshore wind. The first floating offshore wind farm in the world, Hywind Scotland, was installed off Peterhead in Scotland in 2017, and it has consistently delivered the highest capacity factor of any offshore wind farm in UK waters.

It has now been overtaken as the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm by the Kincardine Project, southeast of Aberdeen, that has a combined capacity of 50MW and can power up to 35,000 homes.

Floating wind technology is closely related to technology used by the oil and gas industry and fixed-bottom wind – where the UK boasts world-leading skills and expertise. This positive backdrop means that large-scale floating wind projects can be expected well before the end of this decade. However, the industry must move fast to maximise the benefits available – for the environment and for the economy.

A healthy pipeline of commercial floating wind projects is crucial to enable future cost reduction in the sector. Higher deployment will benefit the floating wind supply chain, and this will encourage further investment.

The Offshore Wind Sector Deal in 2019 also committed the offshore wind industry to upscaling the capabilities of the UK supply chain. However, significant gaps between the number of supply chain companies with the skills required, and the number of companies required to deliver deployment, needs to be addressed.

Ralph said: “The huge increase in deployment sparks the need for innovation, grid integration, and significant development in supply chain capacity and port infrastructure.”

Looking forward

In January 2022, the potential for floating offshore wind was turbocharged when Crown Estate Scotland released the Scotwind leasing round results – the first round of offshore wind leasing in Scottish waters in a decade. Seventeen projects were awarded, and deployment potential of up to 25GW became available. Energy harvested could power up to 25 million homes – roughly the total number of households in the UK.

By February, ORE Catapult had launched the £9m National Floating Wind Innovation Centre in Aberdeen, in collaboration with ETZ Ltd, as part of its commitment to develop floating offshore wind, and to capitalise on the Scotwind seabed leasing round, as well as opportunities in the North East of England and the Celtic Sea. The centre will focus on digital modelling and testing key components in floating structures, such as dynamic cables and electrical systems.

Floating offshore wind is primed to play a key role in delivering Net Zero for the UK and globally. The Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence delivered by ORE Catapult is the hub from which this unique challenge can be progressed as the best in the industry collaborate on solutions and ways to maximise the opportunities of the floating wind revolution.