RWE supporting research into concrete foundations for Scottish supply chain

RWE  is partnering with Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult – the UK’s leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy, to study the potential for Scottish businesses to produce commercial scale concrete foundations for floating wind projects.

The possible development of floating wind projects in Scotland puts a focus on the amount of local content that could be achieved: this report aims to set out what would be required to deliver this.

RWE is one of the world’s leading companies for renewable energy and has been involved in three floating wind demonstration projects in Norway, Spain and the US, two of which use concrete foundations that could also be suitable for ScotWind sites.

Manufacture of concrete foundations could have the biggest supply chain benefit in terms of Scottish content for floating wind projects. In recent years, the Scottish engineering supply chain has been an industry leader, delivering huge oil and gas structures for the North Sea, as well as exporting technical expertise to markets around the world.

Here is potential to build on this legacy, for example, one concrete foundation for a 15MW floating turbine would have a mass in excess of 10,000 tonnes; a 500MW project would need around 33, offering an important opportunity for the local supply chain.

The study will be carried out by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence to understand the scale of this potential and how it might be unlocked.

Fully funded by RWE and delivered as a discretionary project within the Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence, a summary of the work will be published upon completion of the research in mid-2021.

Original Source: https://ocean-energyresources.com/2021/03/14/rwe-supporting-research-into-concrete-foundations-for-scottish-supply-chain/