In Scotland, developers have been cutting back on offshore wind deployment due to the high cost of it. The installation of wind turbines into the sea floor is part of this issue. But a long-waiting solution is floating wind turbines.
In Scotland, a floating wind farm project called the Buchan Deep is now set to go up, and it will hopefully be significantly cheaper than traditional, fixed offshore wind farms. North Sea oil and gas project costs cut their expenses by using floating platforms. A company very familiar with that technology is pioneering this one.
According to The Guardian, the Buchan Deep, which amounts to 30 MW of power capacity, will be installed by the Norwegian oil company Statoil. The wind industry has set a target for itself to reduce costs by 30%, and this type of floating wind farm is expected to be a major contributor to that goal if this trial goes well.
Michael Fallon, the Minister Of Energy And Climate Change, says: “This innovative project will lead to the construction of the first floating offshore wind farms in the UK. This underlines the UK’s attractiveness as the number one destination for offshore wind development.”
“Investing in new technologies will be crucial to unlocking offshore wind potential over the long term while we focus on the current development pipeline,” said Huub den Rooijen, head of offshore wind at the Crown Estate, which approved this project.
Note that the pursuit of offshore wind is for three main reasons: One is that the ocean is out of sight to most; second is that winds are stronger and more consistent offshore; and three is that it is a way to generate wind power on a large scale without occupying expensive land.
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