Irish new energy developer Simply Blue plans to bid into Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing round – launched to build offshore wind-powered oil and gas emissions reduction projects in the North Sea – with a new-look floating platform designed by Marine Power Systems (MPS), following a deal signed today (Tuesday).
The collaboration agreement, which builds out on Simply Blue’s wider Normadic industrial decarbonisaion project, would see MPS’ PelaFlex tension leg platform (TLP) concept used for a 100MW array installed in 60-100 metres of water off the UK.
“MPS offers the most advanced UK floating technology which we consider to be a good fit with our Nomadic offshore wind project,” said Sam Roch-Perks, Simply Blue’s CEO.
The PelaFlex TLP is engineered for “significantly reduced system mass and a smaller mooring footprint” than other floating wind platform designs, according to MPS, and “optimised [for] local content delivery through a decentralised logistics model”.
MPS CEO Gareth Stockman said: “Our innovative floating platform technology has been designed for industrial scale deployment from the outset. [This TLP concept] brings significant cost and efficiency benefits throughout the product lifecycle… and one that will provide a steppingstone to bigger commercial scale deployments in the future.”
Simply Blue’s bid for the flagship INTOG round, launched earlier by Crown Estate Scotland following the highly successfully ScotWind auction, would involve six 15MW-plus units based on a design which last week was chosen for a pilot moored off Vianna do Castello on Portugal’s northern coast.
The gigascale Nomadic project was unveiled earlier this year with Simply Blue partnering with Northern Ireland’s MJM Renewables to build a deepwater wind-powered green industrial hub in Ballykelly, located inland from Lough Foyle.
The lead-off 5.7GW INTOG round was opened in August to developers aiming to build “small-scale” sub-100MW deepwater wind arrays linked to North Sea hydrocarbon production platforms, as well as for projects that will provide green power to existing oil & gas infrastructure to cut emissions. The leasing forms part of the Scottish government’s push to reach net zero emissions by 2045.
Simply Blue has rapidly emerged as one of the world’s most ambitious floating wind specialists, with a 10GW pipeline of projects off its home market and the UK that include partnerships with the likes of Orsted, Shell and TotalEnergies, and development plans in the US, Sweden and Iberia.
Consultancy DNV calculates floating wind projects currently make up over 15% of the total offshore wind deployment in the pipeline for switch-on by mid-century, equal to some 264GW of the 1,750GW slated to be installed.
