- French companies Ideol and Atlantique Offshore Energy have revealed market-ready plans for a floating substation to serve the offshore wind energy sector.
- The companies, along with ABB have worked over a period of two years to design the substation, which will work in both fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind facilities.
The substation is based on a combination of Ideol’s damping pool technology, and Atlantique Offshore Energy’s SeeOs [Scalable Efficient Evolutive Offshore Substation] offshore platform concept.
The companies claim this universal floating offshore substation has been engineered to operate in the world most extreme environments and to offer maximum modularity.
According to a joint statement, with the installation of the topside onto the floater at quayside, with the testing and pre-commissioning at quayside as well as an installation without heavy-lift offshore operations, this floating electrical offshore substation generates significant cost reductions.
The market potential is huge, as 115GW of new offshore capacity is expected to be installed around the globe by 2030.
Bruno Geschier, Ideol’s chief sales & marketing officer, said: “Ideol, with its patented floating technology and unique in-house expertise, is excited and proud to once again collaborate with leading firms such as AOE and ABB and to contribute to the acceleration of commercial-scale floating offshore wind.”
Lionel Jossé, AOE’s head of sales & marketing, also commented: “This project reflects our capacity to capitalise on the lessons learned we have from the electrical offshore substations we successfully delivered, so as to innovate and to implement ready-to-market solutions.
Author: Babalwa Bungane
This article was originally published on ESI Africa and is republished with permission with minor editorial changes.
