Floating renewables are breaking free (in the best possible way) and taking wind and solar on what many believe could be their most significant journey to date.
Floating wind power had another landmark week as Recharge revealed how the largest turbine yet seen in the segment, a 10MW monster, could be turning off Norway by 2022 under an Iberdrola-backed EU initiative.
Across the North Sea in Scotland, the potential of floating turbines to fuel production of green hydrogen was highlighted by news that a pioneering wind-to-H2 project will be sited at the Kincardine project that’s set to be the world’s largest floating array so far.
The enthusiasm for the oil & gas sector for floating wind is well established, led by Norway’s Equinor which celebrated start of construction at the world’s first floating wind-powered offshore oil project, Hywind Tampen.
Meanwhile the fossil sector’s latest convert, French supermajor Total, said it expects turbines as large as 20MW to help drive down costs as it pursues its own big ambitions in floating wind, a sector where CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “Frankly, the oil & gas companies are perfectly positioned.”
The floating sector – generally seen as the technology of choice for deep-sea offshore wind – even has its eyes on the shallower waters that are currently the domain of its fixed-bottom sibling. Recharge revealed how an international team led by floating wind pioneer Principle Power is aiming to develop a new mooring concept that would make it possible to install units in waters less than 45-metres deep.
Floating solar – the deployment of PV on lakes, reservoirs or even the open sea – is increasingly staking a claim as a game-changer of its own. That’s certainly the view of the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which released a study that claims wiring-in floating solar arrays to existing hydropower reservoirs around the world could change the face of the global energy system, meeting nearly 50% of total electricity demand.
A few short years ago, the idea of Alberta being as well known for its wind and solar power as oil sands would have seemed inconceivable, but as a Recharge report showed, that’s no longer so far-fetched as the Canadian province synonymous with pollution races to add renewable energy.
How about an oil supermajor talking more about renewables than oil during an investor strategy update? That came to pass this week when Total presented its low-carbon plans to financial analysts, whose only questions were on details of the French group’s green, not black, ambitions to be a top-five green energy player.
All this must be deeply unsettling to employees who have spent their lives in fossil fuel sectors that are now entering their twilight phase, reflected in the eagerness of "demoralised" workers in the UK offshore oil & gas sector to seek new opportunities in renewables.
Iron Man isn’t usually held up as a role model for wind industry employees, but the comic book superhero made an unexpected appearance in the latest Recharge digital roundtable looking at digitalisation and the future of offshore wind.
The Marvel stalwart in the high-tech suit was held up as a handy metaphor for how serious amounts of data can be distilled down to what really matters, whether that’s saving the planet superhero-style or eking more production from a fleet of wind turbines.
No other comic legends were mentioned in the roundtable, but there was plenty of lively discussion spanning ‘digital twins’ for turbines, advanced condition monitoring, robotics and improved wind farm performance by a panel including senior executives from Equinor, Envision Energy, DNV GL and the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.
