Ocergy Floating Wind Foundation Tech Selected for Salamander pre-FEED

Ocergy has won a pre-FEED foundation design contract for its OCG-Wind foundation technology to be deployed on the Salamander floating offshore wind project operated by a joint venture between Simply Blue Group, Ørsted and Subsea7.

Ocergy has developed OCG-Wind, described as a new and efficient floating wind turbine foundation, to support very large wind turbines (>10MW) intended for large-scale wind farm development. It targets levelized cost of energy (LCOE) which can start to drive down floating offshore wind farms to eventually be competitive with fixed offshore wind farms.

Last year, Salamander signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ocergy to evaluate its foundation design for a development in north-east Scotland. The UK government has set a target of delivering 5GW of operational floating offshore wind power by 2030.

Local supply chain

The OCG-Wind is described as a semi-submersible platform designed to leverage the industrial productivity of hull fabrication and assembly by maximizing the local supply chain. The hull is made of three outer circular columns connected mechanically with trusses to a central column that supports the wind turbine.

A feasibility study looked at all aspects of OCG-Wind’s design, specifications, manufacturing, assembly, operations and installation for Salamander. He also reviewed the compatibility of the OCG-Wind platform with the site, including performance, supply chain and local content management, and identified schedule risks and overall project costs. This feasibility study will now move into a pre-FEED phase.

Hugh Bellproject director Salamander said: “From the outset the fabrication and assembly of the base was a crucial element for us in the delivery higher local content. We focus on the capabilities of Scottish Supply Chain, which helps us decide which technologies to advance. Ocergy’s OCG-Wind technology meets our requirements.

“We aim to provide access to doubled the number of Scottish port facilities over some traditional floating concepts due to lower draft requirements. We also expect a scalable manufacturing and assembly process suitable for commercial-scale deployment, as well as a reduction in the mass of steel produced by about a third, which will reduce the cost of energy while providing the potential for local production.

Dominique Rodier, the CEO of Ocergy said: “The Salamander project is of paramount importance to our consortium and the floating offshore wind industry. This project will demonstrate that the premise of delivering one unit per week, week after week, is achievable. This is the last major hurdle in the industry before the deployment of large, commercial-scale, floating wind projects.”

Salamander is set to go through the Crown Estate Scotland Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round innovation pathway. The INTOG round will grant seabed leases through a bidding process that will be split into two pools – one for smaller innovation projects below 100MW and one for larger oil and gas infrastructure projects.

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