Organisations active in supporting floating offshore wind
Several organisations provide useful resources to learn more about the floating offshore wind industry, including the following research organisations, trade associations and government departments:
Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE)
The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult) established the FOW CoE to develop an internationally recognised initiative to reduce the cost of energy from floating wind. The FOW CoE will accelerate the build-out of floating offshore wind farms, create opportunities for the UK supply chain, and drive innovations in manufacturing, installation and O&M. The FOW CoE is a collaborative programme with industry, academic and stakeholder partners. It is funded by its Industrial Partners. These are currently:
For more information visit www.ore.catapult.org.uk/what-we-do/innovation/fowcoe/.
Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult)
The ORE Catapult is playing a leading role in stimulating innovation in offshore wind. It produces reports on floating offshore wind technology, supply chain and markets.
For more information visit https://ore.catapult.org.uk.
ORE Catapult, together with the Crown Estate, published a related document to this one called “A Guide to an Offshore Wind Farm” for fixed offshore projects. For more information visit https://guidetoanoffshorewindfarm.com/.
The Crown Estate
The Crown Estate manages the sea bed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It coordinates the offshore wind sea bed leasing rounds in these areas.
For more information visit www.thecrownestate.co.uk.
Crown Estate Scotland
Crown Estate Scotland manages the sea bed around Scotland. It coordinates the offshore wind sea bed leasing rounds in Scotland.
For more information visit www.crownestatescotland.com.
RenewableUK
RenewableUK is the leading trade association representing offshore wind energy companies in the UK. Among its wide-ranging activities is its work on helping the industry meet its requirements for a skilled workforce.
For more information visit www.renewableuk.com.
Scottish Renewables
Scottish Renewables is the trade association that represents the renewable energy industries in Scotland.
For more information visit www.scottishrenewables.com/.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
BEIS is the UK Government Department facilitating the deployment of offshore wind.
For more information visit www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy.
Carbon Trust
The Carbon Trust is an organisation that advises businesses, governments and other organisations on sustainable technologies and issues. It runs the Floating Wind Joint Industry Project (Floating Wind JIP), a collaborative research and development initiative between leading offshore wind stakeholders to accelerate the development of floating offshore wind.
The Floating Wind JIP deliver projects and reports that aim to facilitate technology development and advance commercialisation of the floating offshore wind industry.
For more information visit www.carbontrust.com/our-projects/floating-wind-joint-industry-programme-jip.
Corewind
Corewind is an EU-funded collaboration between industry stakeholders taking place 2019-2023. It is developing research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based semi-submersible and spar floating structures concepts and is publishing its findings. For more information visit http://corewind.eu/.
World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO)
The WFO is a collaborative organisation that represents the offshore wind industry. It consists of a range of different stakeholders. The WFO runs the Floating Offshore Wind Committee, a forum dedicated to advancing the global floating offshore wind industry. The WFO produces reports on floating offshore wind technology, supply chain and markets.
For more information visit https://wfo-global.org/.
Flagship
Flagship is a Horizon 2020 research project that aims to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind through designing and building a 10 MW floating offshore wind turbine using a concrete semi-submersible platform. It includes several major offshore wind industry stakeholders.
For more information visit www.flagshiproject.eu/.
NextFloat
NextFloat is a research programme aimed at accelerating the industrialisation of floating offshore wind. The programme consists of a consortium of ten international stakeholders and received funding from the European Commission.
Early European floating offshore wind projects
| Project name | Lead developer | Floating substructure designer |
|---|---|---|
| Hywind Scotland | Equinor (link) | Equinor |
| WindFloat Atlantic | Ocean Winds (link) | Principle Power (link) |
| Kincardine | Cobra Group (link) | Principle Power (link) |
| Hywind Tampen | Equinor (link) | Equinor |
| Provence Grand Large | EDF (link) | SBM Offshore (link) |
| EolMed | Qair (link) | BW Ideol (link) |
| Golfe du Lion | Ocean Winds (link) | Principle Power (link) |