Mature technologies
The technologies are mature enough for commercial-scale developments and innovation continues to drive down costs while supporting local job creation in the markets we operate.
The development of turbine size and the swept area of the turbine has been substantial over the past decade. Significantly, considering that the substructure does not scale with the turbine, cost per MW will go down as the turbines get larger.
Driving down costs
60-70 percent of the cost elements are alike for both bottom-fixed and floating wind, which means the reduction of costs in bottom-fixed will also benefit deepwater floating wind. By targeting the 30-40 percent of the cost elements that differ (such as the substructures, mooring, dynamic cables, marine operations, and installations), Aker Offshore Wind will push forward to reach our long-term ambition of reducing the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) for floating offshore wind.
Principle power
Aker Offshore Wind has invested in Principle Power (PPI) – a strong technology brand in the offshore floating wind industry – allowing for further acceleration of development through their field-proven technology. Principle Power’s floating foundation design, WindFloat® has pioneered floating wind.
Case study
DIGITALIZATION PROJECT, CA
Through the NextWind project, Aker Offshore Wind works on studying the next generation wind technologies that enable monitoring the condition of an offshore floating wind farm and its impact on the environment via live data streaming.
The project is an Aker Offshore Wind-led consortium in cooperation with Cognite, H.T. Harvey & Associates and MarineSitu. The project is supported by the California Energy Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC).
The project will develop a digital twin simulation of a planned floating offshore wind production facility off the coast of California. The team will deploy Cognite’s Data Fusion solution to incorporate relevant data feeds that allow the team to study the increased competitiveness, performance, and reliability of offshore wind generation, and the mitigation of environmental impacts.