The floating wind industry’s page-turning narrative started a new chapter last week, with Norwegian offshore oil contracting giant Aker Solutions taking a 5% share in US floating technology outfit Principle Power. The stake may look small, but the impact on the sector could be seismic.
Floating wind has had backers in the oil industry for some years, not least another Norwegian North Sea veteran, Statoil, which switched on the first industrial-size prototype in 2009 and last year brought the world’s flagship floating wind array into operation off Scotland – a five-unit project on which Italian offshore oil construction company Saipem was brought in to mate turbines and spar foundations before tow-out.
