UK's pioneering GreenVolt floating wind project awards initial engineering contracts

The project which is being led by Scottish floating wind specialist Flotation Energy and Norwegian offshore wind company Vårgrønn will see the installation of around 35 turbines (with a combined generating capacity of 560MW) at  site 80km off the east coast of Scotland.

Targeting first power in 2029, the primary objective of the project is to support the electrification of of offshore oil and gas platforms in the region, a development that could - it is claimed - reduce operational carbon emissions by as much as 85 per cent.  Surplus renewable electricity will be exported back to the National Grid.

The so-called front-end engineering and design (FEED) Phase 1 contracts will  include engineering, procurement and construction of an offshore substation, encompassing both the jacket and topsides, as well as the design of the high voltage equipment, such as power to oil and gas assets and power to the onshore substation. According to a statement, many of these scopes will be managed out of the contractors’ UK offices, including Aberdeen and London. Successful concepts will then be carried forward into the next phase of the FEED.

The project is expected to unlock £2.5 billion of private investment and create up to 2,800 jobs. Meanwhile, Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn have committed to significant Scottish supply chain investment spend, with Green Volt expected to generate at least £800m for domestic suppliers and place Scotland at the leading edge of this burgeoning new floating wind industry

It is hoped that the project will act as a catalyst for the wider scale of deployment of floating offshore wind in the UK.  As previously reported in The Engineer floating wind is expected to play a vital role in growing UK offshore wind capacity from where it is now (around 15GW) to the estimated 100GW that will be required by 2050. Indeed, Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn are already looking ahead Cenos, a much larger 1.4-gigawatt project, around 125 miles off Aberdeen in the Central North Sea.  

Commenting on this latest development Matthew Green, Green Volt Project Director at Flotation Energy, said: “Green Volt is a truly trailblazing project that will boost the floating offshore wind supply chain, stimulating investment and help accelerate the development of more windfarms. The award of these FEED contracts is a significant milestone for Green Volt. We are thrilled to be collaborating with these engineering teams as we continue to develop the windfarm at rapid pace.”