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The Ardersier Energy Transition Facility can support the integration, launch of turbines Haventus and Sarens PSG have developed what they say is low-cost solution for the integration and launch of floating offshore wind turbines. Haventus is working to enable wind project developers to acquire fully assembled floating bases and turbines in Scotland, at Ardersier, as well as providing dry storage which does not require complex licensing. A heavy-lift solution will enable safe on-land integration and launch to the harbour of fully integrated floating offshore wind turbines. The Ardersier Energy Transition Facility will be a world-class energy transition site, serving the offshore wind generation market, notably including the 35GW capacity of the ScotWind and INTOG programmes, the pair said. The Ardersier ETF, at a current developable land area of 350 acres, with proposals to extend to around 500 acres, is one of the few European facilities large enough to provide a land-based solution for these activities, they added. According to the pair, this has the significant benefits of radically shortening supply chains through single-site sourcing of key components and removing the operational, safety, logistical and engineering complexity that comes with storage and integration activities in the marine environment. They said it can also drive down the costs and accelerating floating wind deployment by simplifying transport and installation requirements and remove the obstacles of weather and design life variables that must be considered with ‘wet’ storage and integration. Scotland is the global leader for floating win deployment at scale, with around 24.5GW of the seabed leased for development. Haventus chief executive, Lewis Gillies said: Industrialisation, innovation and scale are critical to creating meaningful employment and to driving down the cost of floating offshore wind to parity with fixed offshore wind, if not lower. These factors will put Scotland and the UK at the global forefront of FLOW. This heavy-lift solution, developed with Sarens PSG, is a radical departure from conventional practice; it will substantially reduce the cost of floating wind which ultimately can help reduce all of our electricity bills. Sarens PSG managing director, Steve Clark: This is potentially a game-changing step for floating offshore wind. Industrial-scale deployment demands industrial-scale solutions and this partnership with Haventus can deliver exactly that. By executing all heavy lifting operations whilst the floater is still onshore, we’re enabling fully integrated wind turbines to be assembled and launched safely, efficiently, and independent of marine weather delays. This can be a milestone for Ardersier, with positive implications for the wider offshore wind industry. |
