Dutch-Norwegian company SolarDuck has been awarded a contract for the world’s largest hybrid offshore floating solar power plant at the offshore wind park Hollandse Kust West VII in the Netherlands.
Following winning bid of RWE’s subsidiary Oranje Wind Power II for the subsidy-free Hollandse Kust West VII (HKW VII) offshore wind farm, SolarDuck has announced plans to build a 5MW floating solar demonstrator with innovative integrated energy storage solutions.
The development follows the collaboration agreement signed between SolarDuck and RWE in July 2022, SolarDuck was selected as the exclusive provider for offshore floating solar technology with integrated energy storage in RWE’s bid for the offshore wind farm HKW VII.
The successful bid will now materialize a hybrid offshore floating solar power plant at scale, with the project due for operational in 2026.
Commenting on the project, SolarDuck’s CEO Koen Burgers said : “This is a flagship project for SolarDuck and an important milestone for the wider offshore floating solar industry. SolarDuck, being the first to build a hybrid project at this scale, will demonstrate the robustness of our solution, prove the important role of system integration in building future-fit energy systems , and enable the scaling of the technology to accelerate its adoption.”
SolarDuck accelerates scaling and commercialization of its technology
Delivering this project will enable SolarDuck to scale faster, reap the associated cost benefits and ultimately accelerate commercial projects at grid scale, the company expects. Hybrid offshore wind and offshore floating solar projects promise to accelerate the adoption of this type of solar technology at scale.
The complementarities between wind and solar resources as well as making better use of existing infrastructure and the ocean space will drive the growth of hybrid offshore floating solar projects.
“In this way, SolarDuck can have a deeper impact in decarbonizing the world, particularly in sunny regions of the world where land is scarce,” the company said in a statement.
The HKW VII wind farm is one of two wind farms due to become operational by 2026 with a capacity of 700MW. The wind farm is located approximately 28.6 nautical miles, or 53 kilometers, off the west coast of the Netherlands.