EMEC is hoping to secure a lease for a site 20km west of Orkney, further out to sea from its existing wave energy test facility at Billia Croo.

EMEC’s proposed test site will comprise six berths for floating offshore wind turbines of up to 20 MW rated capacity. With water depths of 80 to 95 metres, large waves and a mean windspeed of 10.7 m/s, the site will offer floating wind developers representative metocean conditions to those in ScotWind, Celtic Seas and future leasing rounds. 

Four of the six berths will be grid-connected, while the final two berths will be reserved for alternative applications such as hydrogen generation.

The site has been designed specifically for floating wind developers to test turbines, floating structures, moorings and other components an offshore environment described as “energetic”. This will enable performance to be refined on a range of floating wind technologies prior to commercial scale-up and build-out.

EMEC managing director Neil Kermode said: “Floating wind will have a large role to play in our future energy mix so we’re gearing up to support development of the sector. We’re looking at how we can use our existing testing infrastructure for floating wind subsystem testing, as well as developing a new test site to enable full-scale demonstrations ahead of commercial deployments around Scotland.

“Floating wind is still in relative infancy with limited experience globally of deploying and operating technologies in high energy conditions. EMEC’s new demonstration site will provide developers with a highly comparable testing ground to proposed project locations prior to large-scale roll out. This testing will enable companies to de-risk projects helping to satisfy technical due diligence requirements and make financing easier and cheaper.

“We know the demand is there, we’ve had a stream of requests over the last few years from wind developers seeking a test site to help them commercialise their technologies, so this feels like the natural next step in the evolution of EMEC. Having hosted more wave and tidal energy technologies at EMEC than anywhere else in the world, we’re well versed in running offshore testing grounds for renewable energy.

“For Scotland to be ready for ScotWind, we need to be testing these technologies and developing our supply chains now.”

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