Principle Power, Aker Solutions to deliver floating wind projects in the US

April 4, 2023
Principle Power and Aker Solutions have been awarded a US Floating Offshore Wind Readiness Prize.

Offshore staff

EMERYVILLE, California  Principle Power and Aker Solutions have been awarded a US Floating Offshore Wind Readiness (FLOWIN) Prize, which will set forth the goal to establish a sustainable and competitive domestic supply chain ecosystem to deliver floating offshore wind projects in the US.

The FloatHOME Project will leverage the fourth-generation, industrialized WindFloat design to evaluate and compare deployment options, considering the development of advanced, purpose-built fabrication facilities and infrastructure, the companies said.

The FLOWIN Prize is the first from the US Department of Energy's Wind Energy Technologies Office and a three-phase competition aimed at unlocking the 2.8-TW potential US floating wind opportunity through the development of cost-effective technology and competitive domestic supply chains. The first round of the FLOWIN Prize awards $100,000 to winners, which are now eligible to compete in the second phase of the prize.

The primary goal of FloatHOME is to develop a vision and implementation plan for fabrication of the proven WindFloat technology in the US in purpose-built, low-carbon, advanced manufacturing. The consortium will qualify existing infrastructure and work with the supply chain to develop optimized floating offshore wind project execution plans.

The project will quantify costs, risks, job creation and environmental tradeoffs of various scenarios, providing valuable information to industry stakeholders such as state and federal government actors, non-governmental organizations, and labor, who will be essential partners in driving the new industrial revolution required to achieve ambitious floating wind targets, according to the companies.

Aaron Smith, Chief Commercial Officer for Principle Power said, “Principle Power and Aker Solutions have unparalleled experience with series construction of floating wind turbines in designer, EPCI, execution oversite, and O&M roles. Principle Power brings the lessons learned from the WindFloat 1 (2MW), WindFloat Atlantic (25 MW), Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm (50 MW) and now Les Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe de Lion (30 MW) to this project."

“The FLOWIN prize provides us with an excellent opportunity to collaborate with government, developers, supply chain, and other stakeholders to establish industrialized supply chains that are ready to deliver American-Made WindFloat projects.”

The US government aims to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, with 15 GW of floating offshore wind by 2035. 

04.04.2023