European partnership seeks to bolster offshore solar deployment

A group of 16 partners, led by Dutch offshore solar developer Oceans of Energy and Italian consultancy RINA, has teamed up for a project seeking to scale up floating solar technology to standard building blocks of 150 MW to allow its deployment in-between the offshore wind turbines of new and existing farms.

The project, dubbed BAMBOO -- Build scAlable Modular Bamboo-inspired Offshore sOlar systems, will be focused on maturing the technologies and attracting funds for a first of a kind 100-MW to 200-MW offshore solar farm before the turn of the decade. The future site will be built at a yet-to-be-decided offshore wind farm owned by Swedish utility Vattenfall.

The initiative is seen to enable the construction of gigawatt-scale farms and is aimed at tackling the remaining challenges for the rollout of large-scale offshore. These include securing the robustness and performance of the panels in offshore conditions and researching the impact on the environment while securing sustainability in the whole value-chain of this emerging industry.

Installing solar capacities within offshore wind farms makes better use of the sea space, increases energy output and will cut costs for green electricity production, according to a recent statement published by Oceans of Energy.

The partnership is coordinated by RINA, and involves Oceans of Energy, four technology developers, five technical and environmental consultancies, three testing laboratories, the marine science-policy think-tank European Marine Board and Vattenfall as a potential client for implementation.

The other participants in the EU Joint Industry Project include Solarge, TKF, Pauwels Transformers, SolarCleano, ABS, Aquatera Ltd, Aquatera Atlantico, WavEC, MARIN, Fraunhofer CSP and SIRRIS.

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