Pyramid-shaped floating turbine to test large-rotor vision for 'low wind' Black Sea play
Cadre of 15 European companies including energy developers and R&D centres to build 5MW pilot off Bulgaria using next-generation steel Eolink design
A cadre of 15 European energy companies and organisations have launched a project to test a new-look floating wind power concept tailored to wind speeds seen in the Black Sea that are considerably lower than off Northern Europe.
The 5MW unit being developed by France’s Eolink for the pilot project off Bulgaria, which will be wired into an operating gas platform run by Petroceltic, the country’s oil & gas company, is based around a pyramidal steel design that promises to cut the mass of metal needed for manufacture by more than 30%, topped-out with 155-metre-diameter”rotor
“The objective of this specific project is to demonstrate the competitiveness of floating wind in lower-wind areas with the deployment of a large rotor diameter,” said Eolink CEO Marc Guyot.
“Winning this award has allowed us to take one step further towards our ultimate goal: offering a viable energy source that is as low-carbon as possible.”
Eolink chief commercial officer Alain Morry pointed to the wind power potential increasingly recognised by global energy players, referencing a recent World Bank report that estimated 166GW in the Black Sea alone.
“This is the equivalent of five times the electricity consumption of Bulgaria and Romania,” he said. “Through this project we hope to catalyse offshore development across the region, which already has ongoing fixed-bottom offshore wind projects in Romania.”
The sixteen European partners involved in the Black Sea Floating Offshore Wind (Blow) project, which is slated to be online in 2025, include Spain’s IREC and Acciona, the Turkish Offshore Wind Energy Association, Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, and the European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland.
The unit for Blow – launched with the mission of commercialising floating wind technology with a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of €87MWh ($95MWh) by 2028, and under €50/MWh by 2030 – will be built by GSP, a Romanian shipyard in Constanta, and installed in some 35 metres of water.