European renewables outfit Greenvolt and offshore wind pioneer BlueFloat Energy have set the seal on a deal to work together to develop deepwater floating projects off Portugal.
The duo said the “highly complementary partnership” would marry the development and permitting experience of Porto-headquarted Greenvolt, which has a nearly 7GW pipeline of onshore wind and PV projects in Europe, the UK and the US, with BlueFloat’s “unique understanding” of deepwater wind technology.
“Greenvolt has a differentiating strategy for utility scale solar and wind projects, focusing on the development phase. Through this partnership with BlueFloat Energy, [we] maintain [our] strategic positioning now expanding to the offshore wind segment in Portugal,” said Greenvolt CEO João Manso Neto.
BlueFloat chief Carlos Martin said: “Entering the Portuguese market is a natural extension of our floating wind strategy for southern Europe. We are delighted to partner with Greenvolt, a fast-growing company that shares our development philosophy and a strategic vision for offshore wind in this key market.”
In January, the Portuguese economics and maritime ministry published proposed zones for offshore wind development that jointly have a potential for more than 11GW of power, mainly from floating arrays. A first tender is slated to take place towards the end of this year.
“Offshore wind power generation is a key pillar in the European Union’s decarbonisation strategy and Portugal has been one of the pioneers in the deployment of floating offshore wind technology,” said the pair.
“Portugal holds a great potential for offshore wind, which is now recognised by the national policy makers who seek to unlock the potential of this technology to deliver on the country’s decorbanisation targets.”
BlueFloat has an over 12GW floating wind project portfolio, with major arrays planned off Europe, Australasia, the UK and Colombia.
Consultancy DNV calculates floating projects currently make up over 15% of the total offshore wind deployment in the global pipeline for switch-on by mid-century, equal to some 264GW of the 1,750GW slated to be installed.
