Floating wind tech developers to compete for GBP 1m in Scottish grants

A project managed by the Carbon Trust today launched a GBP-1-million (USD 1.2m/EUR 1.1m) funding competition aimed at speeding up the development and commercialisation of floating wind.

The Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition will award Scottish government grants to innovations that drive the floating wind market forward, with a particular emphasis on mooring systems and operations and maintenance (O&M) solutions.

The best ideas, regardless of whether they come from within the offshore wind industry or other sectors, will be selected by the Carbon Trust and the 14 offshore wind developers represented by the Floating Wind Joint Industry Project (JIP).

The competition is specifically looking for technologies that address four key challenge areas:

- technologies that enable effective and safe large component exchange offshore;
- cost effective and safe disconnection and re-connection operations when turbine foundations are towed to port;
- cost efficient methods for safe and reliable monitoring and inspection of multiple mooring lines, power cables and foundation structures;
- new methods, materials or technologies that reduce the cost of mooring systems.

The Carbon Trust estimates that an additional 12 GW of floating wind capacity could be deployed around the world by 2030 and that this will require some GBP 32.4 billion of capital investment.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.233/EUR 1.121)

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