Green Volt awards key contracts for trailblazing project seen as floating wind bellwether

Green Volt, the consortium behind what could become one of Europe’s first large-scale floating wind farm to enter operation, has issued key engineering contracts for a project seen as crucial to helping prove the credentials of the wider sector.

The first of the two front-end engineering and design contracts (FEED) was awarded to a pairing of Oslo-based Aker Solutions and Swiss-headquartered ABB.

The second FEED package was jointly awarded to Norwegian contractor Aibel and Zurich-headquartered Hitachi Energy.

Green Volt will include up to 35 floating wind turbines, providing up to 560MW of capacity with a target to be online in 2029.

As part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing round, the project will deliver electricity to help decarbonise oil and gas in the North Sea by replacing natural gas and diesel power generation, but it will also provide electricity to the UK grid.

Green Volt is being developed by Flotation Energy and Vargronn, a joint venture between Plenitude and HitecVision.

In September it became the first floating wind project to win a UK Government Contract for Difference (CfD), placing 400MW of capacity under the scheme, for a strike price of £139.93/MWh.

Commercial infancy

The project is being closely watched as a testing ground for the commercial viability of large-scale offshore floating wind. The headwinds that have affected the offshore wind industry in recent years have been felt harder by developers of a floating sector that is still in its commercial infancy.

The scope of the two FEED contracts includes 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.

In its statement on the contractual awards, Green Volt noted that the electrification of oil and gas assets with offshore wind, whilst simultaneously providing power to the UK grid “is a new concept with many engineering and electrical complexities”.

The consortium said the decision to award contracts to multiple partnerships was based on the specific skills of each supplier, “as well as Green Volt’s ambition to collaborate with, and develop, the UK’s floating wind supply chain”.

Bård Lund, managing director of Hitachi Energy Norway, commented: “We are keen to support Green Volt in the conceptual design of the high voltage (HV) system, which will connect electricity generated from the windfarm to the grid as well as enabling a stable supply of electrical power to existing oil and gas assets.

“Concepts include the management of a bi-directional power flow, to and from shore, in addition to design of high voltage system components," he added.

Matthew Green, project director at Flotation Energy, described Green Volt as “a truly trailblazing project that will boost the floating offshore wind supply chain, stimulating investment and help accelerate the development of more windfarms”.

Contracting philosophy

“We break these packages up and follow a supply-led philosophy where we actually looking to engage with the supply chain a bit differently," he said.

"Rather than telling them all the terms and conditions and exactly what the technical specification should be, we're engaging in a dialogue to try and use the best that they know.

"When you work with the best in the supply chain, and they've worked with many different projects and clients all over the world , you can ask them questions: what did you learn from that? Where did you standardise it? Where did you reduce weight in terms of steel? Where did you simplify the process or package certain things together?

"Working [with] that type of philosophy is something that we think is an advantage for this particular project."

The award of the FEED contracts was also mentioned in a UK government announcement about the launch of a new “Green Industrial Partnership” between the two countries.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is set to visit a cross-border carbon transport and storage facility in Norway, described the Green Volt wind farm as “a prime example of how the UK and Norway can work together to move away from fossil fuels and deliver clean, secure energy for millions of households up and down the country”.

Green Volt said the project can unlock £2.5bn of private investment and create up to 2,800 jobs.