A three-year collaborative research project on the costs around floating offshore wind has been launched.

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton: "It’s important for us to be investing in future skills that the industry needs"

The ‘Improving the Bankability of Floating Offshore Wind Projects’ project will result in a tool designed to assist in key decision making for floating offshore wind projects. It will also create guidance to assist with project finance decision making and to reduce uncertainties in floating offshore wind energy yield assessments.

Scott Hamilton, renewables division manager at Xodus, said: “We have a strong track record of engaging with leading academic research and are proud to be leading this collaborative project in floating offshore wind. It’s important for us to be investing in future skills that the industry needs.”

Open call

Led by Xodus Group through the IDCORE programme, the study is a collaborative partnership between the Universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Exeter as well as the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). To enable the best industry outcomes, Xodus is issuing an open call to developers and technology suppliers to engage with the study from the outset.

The study will tackle the challenges and risks that project developers have in acquiring finance for floating wind projects and develop a methodology to use floating LIDAR data for bankable energy yield assessments.

The study will explore the impacts of floating structures on modelling wind resource and incorporating the impact of met ocean conditions on site considerations.

By Rebecca Jeffrey