The EU Gives 290 million NOK to Test Floating Offshore Wind in Rogaland

Unitech Energy and DNV GL, member and partner of our cluster are participants in the consortium that aims to demonstrate a floating concrete foundation for a 10 MW wind turbine.

Press Release from The Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster

An international consortium has been given EU funding for a project to design, build, install and operate a floating offshore wind turbine at the test center at Karmøy. This will be the first time a 10 MW wind turbine is used on a floating foundation.

The project aims to demonstrate a floating concrete foundation, OO-Star, developed by Dr. techn. Olav Olsen. Unitech Offshore will supply the submarine cables. Among other participants is Kvaerner and DNV GL.

The floating wind turbine will be installed on the test field for Metcentre and Sustainable Energy Catapult 10 km west of Karmoy. The Norwegian participants are all part of the Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster that has coordinated the work from the Norwegian side.

The main goal of the FLAGSHIP project is to demonstrate a cost-effective 10 MW floating offshore wind turbine to ensure that cost per MWh is reduced to 40-60 € / MWh in 2030.

In the evaluation, the project received a full score from the European Commission and was therefore selected among 14 competing constellations.

The partners are now invited to start the process of landing the final agreement, which involves a grant of around 25 million euros. This can thus become one of the the largest EU-funded projects in Norway.

Cooperation on the project application started already in the spring of 2019, and in collaboration with the EU experts in Innovation Norway.

The consortium, led by Spanish Iberdrola, consists of companies and institutions from Norway (Dr. techn. Olav Olsen, Kvaerner, Unitech Offshore, MetCentre, DNV GL), Spain (Core-Marine, Cener, IHC, Zabala Innovation Consulting), France (EDF) and Denmark (DTU).

Horizon 2020 is the EU's framework program for research and innovation. With a total budget of 80 billion Euro in the period 2014-2020, the EU program is the world's largest investment in research and Innovation.

Contacts

Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster:
Arvid Nesse
Cluster Manager
Phone: +47 975 97 384

Kvaerner ASA:
Niklas Eric Indrevær
VP Business Development
Phone: +47 974 07 889

Dr. Techn Olav Olsen AS
Olav Weider
CEO
Phone: +47 901 89 924

Unitech Offshore AS
Gunnar Birkeland
CEO
Phone: +47 909 81 029