Another floating wind turbine project planned for North Sea

Two engineering and design firms are working together to deploy the world’s first multi-turbine floating wind-energy demonstrator off Dounreay in 2018.Sweden-based Hexicon appointed WS Atkins as its engineering partner last year to help design the pioneering offshore wind technology.The floating “wind farm” will consist of two turbines fixed onto a single semi-submersible platform, with a total capacity of 8 to 12 megawatts.Norwegian energy giant Statoil has its own plans for a floating wind farm off Aberdeenshire, with electricity slated to hit the grid in late 2017.But the turbines for Statoil’s Hywind development will be moored individually, rather than in pairs.Dounreay Tri, the company formed to guide through the project, intends to install its platform 3.7 miles off Dounreay, the home of one of the world’s foremost nuclear testing facilities, along with an export cable to bring the power to shore.Onshore infrastructure would also be needed to connect it to the existing substation at Dounreay.A tentative timetable set out by venture estimated planning applications would be submitted by April 2016.But the project appears to be behind schedule. It is currently in the pre-application stage according to the Marine Renewable Energy Projects page on the Scottish Government’s website.The next checkpoints were to obtain planning permission in March 2017, reach financial close the following month, before installing and commissioning the turbines in summer 2018.