Ideol and STX Europe Offshore Energy have announced the development of a breakthrough floating substation.
Image: Offshore wind farm. Photo: courtesy of xedos4/Freedigitalphotos.net.
This one will be compatible with both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind farms.
Their universal and modular solution is expected to impact the market of offshore substations and aims at being market-ready for France’s upcoming floating commercial tenders.
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. But this concept will remain flexible to satisfy client demands, local rules, standards, certification and/or specific certification requirements.
Ideol and STX are combining their respective expertise to develop, build and install a floating substation for both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind farms starting at depths of 30 meters. The market potential is huge, as 115 GW of new offshore capacity is expected to be installed across the globe by 2030.
This project is part of OPTIFLOT, a R&D project which also involves ABB and SNEF.
Ideol’s CEO Paul de la Guérivière said: “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”.
STX Offshore Energy Business Unit Director Frédéric Grizaud 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.”
Source: Company Press Release