The U.S. Department of Energy is pleased to announce the selection of finalists for an eagerly anticipated competition aimed at advancing the development and commercialization of floating offshore wind energy technologies. This initiative is a crucial element of the government’s broader commitment to accelerating the installation of floating offshore wind technology.
The potential for floating offshore wind to provide a significant amount of renewable energy is undeniable. However, the development of new technologies and manufacturing processes is essential to make the manufacturing and installation of floating turbines more economically viable and efficient. U.S. studies estimate that floating turbines could generate a substantial 2.8 terawatts of electricity in the United States, more than doubling the country’s current electricity consumption. With around two-thirds of America’s offshore wind power potential located in deep waters, which are more suitable for floating turbines as opposed to fixed-bottom ones, the Biden administration has set an ambitious goal of deploying 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035.
Floating offshore wind structures are expected to pose one of the most significant challenges in the transition to clean energy. These vast structures are set to become the largest man-made structures ever built, designed to float and operate in high-wind areas of the ocean that are too deep for today’s fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines.
The FLOWIN (American-Made FLoating Offshore Wind ReadINess) competition has been launched to bring together the design, manufacture, supply chain, and transportation components required to deploy floating wind turbines. The competition consists of three phases, with nine Phase One winners already selected earlier this year. In Phase Two, the selected companies were tasked with adapting their designs for production, devising plans for mass production, assembly, and deployment, and submitting a cost estimate and production throughput analysis. The competition is being administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), and each of the five Phase Two winners was awarded £450,000 in cash alongside £100,000 in credit for technology support at a Department of Energy national laboratory.
Among the winners of Phase Two is PelaStar, with its innovative partnership, which includes Everett Floating Structures, FibreMax, Avient-Dyneema, GMC Limited, Triton Anchor, Havfram, Foss Offshore Wind, Geodis, TRC, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Their impressive deployment plan aims to assemble and install one 15MW floating wind turbine every week starting in the early 2030s.
Another finalist, FloatHOME’s triangular platform, WindFloat, developed with the support of Principle Power and Aker Solutions, presents a fourth-generation design that provides deep-water stability, featuring a damping system to absorb wave excitation movement. Additionally, Technip Energies’ INO15 design, a semisubmersible, three-column floating platform, offers a low-cost assembly at ports and robustness to harsh operating environments. The Tetra Triple-One floating platform utilizes a building-block arrangement, making portside construction feasible for various platform configurations, turbine sizes, and site conditions. Lastly, WHEEL U.S.’s concept incorporates tanks for buoyancy and balance, allowing it to be assembled with the wind turbine near the shore and towed to sea.
These finalists will now progress to the final prize phase, where they will develop location-specific implementation pathways for the domestic manufacture and deployment of their floating offshore wind energy technologies. Up to three winners from Phase Three will each receive a £900,000 cash prize.
This initiative forms part of the broader interdepartmental efforts of the Biden Administration, involving the Departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, and Transportation, to drive U.S. leadership in the design, deployment, and manufacturing of floating wind technologies. Since its launch in September 2022, the U.S. has committed over £950 million to planning, leasing actions, research, development, demonstration, deployment, and more, in an effort to fully realize the potential of this renewable power source.
Approximately two-thirds of the country’s offshore wind potential is situated in deep waters, making floating offshore wind turbines more practical and cost-effective than fixed-bottom turbines. Efforts have been focused on advancing floating turbine designs, transmission planning for power from floating offshore wind projects, and investments into the first offshore wind terminal on the Pacific Coast.
Just last month, the DOE expressed its intention to allocate £20 million in funding for projects that enhance floating offshore wind systems through refinement and innovation in floating platform design, manufacturing, deployment, and integrated turbine/platform research. In addition to this, £3.5 million will be offered for the establishment of a floating offshore wind Center of Excellence.
The first floating offshore wind installations in the United States are anticipated to involve leases auctioned in 2023 off California. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has recently proposed ten new lease areas, including two in Oregon and eight in the Gulf of Maine, all of which are likely to be reliant on floating turbines.