Blue Gem Wind, the joint venture (JV) between oil giant Total and Irish developer Simply Blue Energy, has handed in its environmental scoping report for the 300MW Valorous floating wind farm in the Celtic Sea off Wales.

Valorous follows the JV’s 96MW Erebus demonstrator, launched last August, into development on the site, some 50km south west of the Pembrokeshire coastline.

The project’s managing director Mike Scott said: “Blue Gem Wind is progressing its second floating wind stepping stone project in the Celtic Sea. We believe moving from initial demonstration scale projects, to larger early-commercial developments, will help to capture the highest local supply chain content, and maximise knowledge transfer.

“We look forward to receiving feedback from Natural Resources Wales on the scoping report.”

Simply Blue has emerged as a key early stage developer in European floating wind play, last month sealing a deal with Shell through the which the oil supermajor is taking a majority stake in the multibillion-dollar Emerald floating wind megaproject it had be advancing to build near the decommissioned Kinsale gas fields in the Celtic Sea, which has been estimated to have a harnessable wind resource of some 50GW.

Floating wind markets are on the verge of explosive growth globally, with recent analysis from UK-based low carbon advisory body the Carbon Trust calculating over 70GW of floating wind could be turning by 2040 – a near-1,000-fold expansion of the current global fleet – as international supply chains take shape to support development of commercial-scale projects around the world.

DNV GL, meanwhile, in its latest Energy Transition Outlook, forecast some 260GW of floating wind turning worldwide by 2050, but this expansion hinges on the sector reducing LCOE to €40-60/MWh ($50-75/MWh) from levels today that are three times as high.

Wind

Total-led Blue Gem strides onto second floating wind 'stepping stone' off Wales