Abstract
The aim of this Guide is to help companies develop a greater understanding of the components and processes involved in the development of floating offshore wind farms in the UK. The floating offshore wind industry is early in its development, with only a small number of pre-commercial projects installed globally. It is expected to grow significantly, with between 6 and 10 GW of capacity operational by the end of 2030. There are many challenges still to address, including:
• Development: how to mitigate the impact of floating offshore wind farms on the sea bed and other marine users, as the impact is different from fixed offshore wind farms
• Design: how to accelerate the feedback loop between designing, testing and learning, especially for the floating substructure, mooring system and dynamic cable system, and establish design standards optimised for floating offshore wind
• Manufacture: how to achieve economies of simplification, standardisation and scale, given the current industry maturity
• Offshore operations: how to establish new, efficient and effective ways of working for offshore installation, operations and maintenance (O&M), as there are significant differences from fixed offshore wind farms, and
• Financing: how to give confidence to investors, lenders and insurers regarding performance and level of risk to reduce the financing costs of projects.