Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2023)

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Tens of gigawatts of ? oating wind proMects are slated for development in this and the next decade, but many obstacles remain.

By 3KiOip /ewis ,nteOatXs *OoEaO 3artners

There has been much focus on the emerging ? oating wind delivering on these aspirations. This article goes on to discuss market of late. some of these challenges that must be addressed:

The U.K. is forging ahead with commercial scale ? oating ? 3ermitting A feature of offshore wind is the disconnect wind developments through the Scotwind and INTOG awards between aspirational targets and what is realistically achiev- of at least 24 gigawatts (GW) of ? oating wind capacity rep- able in terms of leasing and permitting. An example is Portugal, resenting close to 1,500 ? oating turbines that will come on which has till now permitted less than 100 MW of offshore wind stream through 2030. And this will be soon followed by the capacity, yet plans to auction, permit and deploy 10 GW of most- award of at least 4 GW of capacity through the Celtic Sea ly ? oating wind by 2030. While it is realistic to expect Portugal ? oating wind auctions. The U.S. has awarded ? oating wind to award leases for 10 GW by 2030, it is an optimistic timeline leases with a potential of over 8 GW of capacity in the Pa- to permit, build and deploy the capacity within the time frame.

ci? c and will move ahead with large ? oating wind leases in ? 1o one standard technical approach Although most the Atlantic this year. Norway is planning to award 1.5 GW projects will deploy one of three broad concepts to support the of ? oating wind capacity at Utsira Nord this year and France turbine, a semis-submersible (V-column or barge), spar (buoy is targeting bring 750 megawatts (MW) of ? oating turbines or hanging counterweight) or tension-leg platform (TLP), on stream at the end of the decade in the Atlantic and Medi- there is an ever-growing number of technical solutions being terranean. Spain and Portugal are entering the fray with an- offered. This drives the need for ? exibility in the supply chain. nouncement of multi-gigawatt ? oating wind aspirations. In ? ,ndustriali]ed substructure manufacture Using the

Asia Paci? c, developers are navigating their path through a example of permitting applications for U.K. ? oating wind complicated permitting framework, where the prize is over projects, developers are seeking design envelope approval for 8 GW of ? oating project potential, mostly off the east coast structures with footprints of up to 15,000 square meters. We

Usan region. Australia and Japan are also the subject of much expect to see substructures in the 5,000-10,000 square meter interest. This is not an exhaustive list of countries with ? oat- range. The substructures will weigh each weigh a minimum ing wind aspirations, but a selection of the most discussed. 3-5,000 tonnes if made from steel and up to 20,000 tonnes if

This all sounds very positive – tens of gigawatts of ? oating made from concrete. On a 1 GW wind farm, over 60 of these wind projects driving demand for suppliers and contractors in will be required in, most likely a two-year delivery window. this and the next decade. However, many obstacles remain to ? 3orts Deep draft ports will be required to assemble, 10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • April 2023

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