Ideol Offshore and STX Europe Offshore Energy are developing a floating substation design for use on bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind farms starting at depths of 30 metres.
This universal and modular solution aims at being market-ready for France’s upcoming floating commercial tenders, the developers said.
The project is part of OPTIFLOT, a R&D project which also involves ABB and SNEF.
Based on Ideol’s patented and shallow-draft Damping Pool concept and designed to operate in the world most extreme environments, this universal floating substation is currently being designed and engineered with a target of maximum standardization and modularization that allow cost reduction.
”This project pushes the boundaries of the offshore wind market as offshore substations are a crucial component of a commercial array. This project allows us to add another string to our bow and demonstrates the wide range of potential applications our Damping Pool® technology can offer,” Paul de la Guérivière , Ideol’s CEO, said.
The market potential is huge, as 115GW of new offshore capacity is expected to be installed across the globe by 2030, according to the developers.
Frédéric Grizaud , STX Offshore Energy Business Unit Director, said: “We have the ambition to combine our experience of bottom-fixed offshore substations and floating units’ fabrication to deliver a strong and efficient solution. We believe in its competitiveness and in our contribution to lower LCOE that will make this new market a reality.”