Wind

'We absolutely see floating wind as complimentary to fixed in our core plays': Orsted Europe chief

The Danish offshore wind pacesetter is the latest convert to floating technologies, with plans to bring its industrial weight and experience to bear on first commercial tenders, its SVP for continental Europe, Rasmus Errboe, tells Recharge

Rasmus Errboe of Orsted.
Rasmus Errboe of Orsted.Foto: Orsted
News of Orsted’s plans to partner with Fred Olsen in bidding for deepwater acreage soon to be tendered by the Norwegian government as part of its flagship offshore wind leasing round has underscored a clear shift in attitude at the Danish utility, which while the sector’s global pacesetter with a target of having 15GW of projects online by 2025, has historically shunned floating technologies in favour of bottom-fixed.
The developer’s move in Norway came only months after CEO Mads Nipper revealed the intention to make a first foray in to the fast-emerging sector via Scotland’s ScotWind auction – and is leagues away from the stance of the company only a few years ago that it had “no need” to get involved in floating projects.
“Our intent and indeed our timing is plain: until now we have consciously decided not to engage in floating wind because the market, we believe, was in its early days,” said Rasmus Errboe, Orsted’s SVP for continental Europe, speaking to Recharge.

“So we have been monitoring [the market], making sure we didn’t miss out on any entrant opportunities. But we feel floating has so far been about R&D and pilot projects, and about finding the ‘right’ technologies,” he said.

“The reason we are going into floating wind now is because in the coming years we believe [the sector] is now moving into real, early-stage projects – the Norwegian government [is about to] put out three times 500MW [of project sites]… these are a ‘meaningful’ size of floating wind project.”

Though a rapidly progressing sector, floating wind – which has grown from a single turbine in the North Sea in 2009 into a market forecast by DNV to reach a fleet size of over 260GW by mid-century – now needs 200-500MW scale projects to spur it on in development of its supply chain and wider industrial infrastructure.
Speed up of its build-out is key to the growth of the sector and to the regions aiming to deploy floating technology, not least Europe, where the bloc’s 2050 net zero targets depend heavily on an armada of deepwater units running in concert with the hundreds of gigawatts of bottom-fixed that is on the cards to be built.
As well as the Norwegian auction, which is marking off an area for three 500MW floating wind sites in the Utsira North zone, off the west of country, out of the total 4.5GW on offer, and Scotland, where much of the acreage on the block in ScotWind is in water depths too deep for fixed turbines, France is auctioning off a 230-270MW floating project site off Brittany. The UK aims to have 1GW of of floating arrays installed by 2030, as part of a targeted 30GW-plus offshore build-out.

“We absolutely see floating becoming complimentary to bottom-fixed in our core markets. It is not about one or the other. Look at Europe, where [industry advocacy body WindEurope] foresees 100-150GW [of the 300-450GW total offshore wind plant projected to be built] by 2050 to reach net zero having to be floating,” said Errboe.

“We have been developing bottom-fixed offshore wind for 30 years – and we have all the experience and technology development culture that comes with this. The [European Commission] numbers that I quoted before: that is the important part for me when I think about floating wind off Europe… the long term potential.”

Orsted has distinguished itself in the global offshore wind industry’s market-making expansion for installing more wind turbines than any other developer, with 7.6GW turning and 2.3GW under construction at the end of 2020.

The important part for me when I think about floating wind off Europe is the long term potential

But Errboe believes that while this deployment-focused approach has a clear industrial fit in accelerating the floating build-out, he thinks some of the developer’s “other strengths” will also be key.

“Orsted is much more than just about ‘scale’”, he said, pointing at the company’s leadership in the offshore wind sector’s innovation culture through its partnership and part-financing of a wide range of technologies, including alternative jacket foundation designs and wind resource measurement systems.

“But, that said, what is needed by floating wind is scale – the sector is just ahead of a real step-change caused by the fact that governments are putting out sizeable development opportunities for the industry to go for.

“And,” Errboe added, “if you look at the cost-out that Orsted has been part of driving in the sector in the last decade: one would have to expect, to some extent, the same trajectory for floating.”

Errboe believes new models of partnership will be key to gearing up floating wind’s expansion in Europe: “Companies likes ours will be able to offer construction and project execution capabilities and we will look to supplement that with the ‘early knowledge’ [from partners] that has been built so far on first projects, there is no doubt.

“As a starting point [for floating wind partnerships] we have our current approach, developed through our bottom-fixed business,” he said. “Like with Fred Olsen and [Oslo utility] Hafslund Eco [in Norway], it’s about complimentary capabilities but we also look for companies with a strong ground game in a [regional] market.”

Wait and see on platforms

One type of partnership Errboe won’t be drawn on is around the platform technologies now in development around the world, where an ecosystem that encompasses oil-inspired semisubs, spars and TLPs, as well as a new generation of designs, including those being prototyped by Stiesdal, X1Wind and others, have taken shape.

“It is still too soon for us to say what will be a commercial ‘next generation’ concept. We certainly don’t believe there will be one winning concept,” he stated, adding that Orsted expected a natural commercial evolution of the sector, where “in a short time you will see across the industry what developers choose as their concepts for these relatively big leases that are coming up, off Europe but, again, internationally too”.

Globally, floating wind power projects totalling more than 26GW are on track to be turning by 2035, according to latest figures from Quest FWE, with the fleet expected to grow “exponentially” as the first wave of utility-scale developments now taking shape internationally is boosted by transitioning oil companies and ever-improving economics.
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Published 15 June 2021, 06:49Updated 15 June 2021, 09:37
DenmarkOrstedFranceEuropeFred Olsen Renewables