Ocean Installer is the latest business to join Cerulean Winds’ alliance of supply chain firms aimed at delivering a trio of floating wind projects in Scotland.
The marine construction and operations provider claims that its involvement “is vital to driving down cost of installation”.
The first project the group will turn its attention to is Aspen, located east of Aberdeen, which is set to deliver 1GW of power once fully operational.
Following this, the Cedar and Beech 1GW floating wind farms are to come later, with FID on the assets set to be taken next year.
Construction on the project is slated to start next year, with first power forecast for 2028.
© Supplied by Big PartnershipThe offshore wind developer became the first winner of the Scottish government’s innovation and targeted oil and gas (INTOG) round to commit to a deployment port as it selected Ardersier in the Highlands for development.
Ocean Installer said it will work alongside Ardersier owner Haventus on dry storage of the structures, batched installation and quick connect/disconnect systems.
The company, alongside the port owners, aims to “optimise processes and create a convention for how future FLOW projects are installed.”
Dan Jackson, founding director of Cerulean Winds, said: “Using Ocean Installer’s capabilities, we believe we can develop a standardized process to cut installation costs and make floating offshore wind’s levelized cost of energy comparable to fixed offshore wind.”
© Supplied by Cerulean WindsCerulean Winds’ alliance is made up of oil and gas supply chain firms that aim to deliver the projects, including prime contractor NOV and operations and maintenance partner Bilfinger.
UK managing director of Ocean Installer Gregor Scott said: “It is another reminder of our commitment to using our specialist expertise and collaborative approach to unlock energy, in all its forms, from the global oceans.”
Jackson added: “For floating offshore wind to be successful in the North Sea we’ve got to use expertise and experience from the oil and gas sector to turbo-charge the speed of cost reduction – that is what Ocean Installer are bringing to our project.”
Recently, the Cerulean boss told Energy Voice that he believes offshore wind will deliver “higher quality jobs” than those created by the UK’s oil and gas sector in its early days.
He said the number of jobs created by his three floating wind projects will be “in the thousands”, as he committed to building his 300 turbine project “in Scotland”.
“If we build out floating wind in Scotland, we set up the supply chain for the industry to be developed for floating wind in Scotland,” he said.
