The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE) has launched its fourth key strategic programme this week – focused on reducing risk and costs associated with floating offshore wind, and supporting supply chain growth in construction, operations and maintenance. 

The new strategic programme, ‘Construction, Operations and Maintenance’, builds on previous work delivered by the FOW CoE relating to other key areas such as dynamic inter-array cables, environmental interaction, and mooring and anchoring systems. These programmes reflect the swift movement of floating offshore wind into an industrialisation phase, where challenges remain on how best to scale up manufacturing, assembly and construction, while simultaneously driving down cost and minimising risk.  

Design, manufacturing and assembly of substructures, port logistics and operations, are huge areas of opportunity for the UK supply chain to secure contracts and play a role in reducing costs. This new programme will support developers in de-risking the construction and O&M phases of commercial-scale floating wind farms. 

Andrew Stormonth-Darling, Programme Manager for Floating Wind, said:
"This field of work is rich with opportunities for optimisation, from port marshalling activities to heavy lift maintenance strategies, all of which can help drive down costs. On top of this, there is a real chance to see more UK businesses form part of this ever-growing supply chain, and in the FOW CoE programme we are working to help make that a reality.”  

Ryanne Burges, Director of Offshore and Ireland at EDF Renewables, and FOW CoE Industry Sponsor, said:
"In my capacity as industry sponsor for this strategic programme, I can see the value it can bring to the floating wind sector. There are a number of key challenges we need to address, and this programme has the ability to conduct the research, testing and knowledge sharing to ensure future floating wind projects are de-risked and delivered safely and cost-effectively.” 

Key outcomes of the Construction, Operations and Maintenance programme include:

• More advanced FOW project construction with operations and maintenance simulation tools available within the industry.
• Minimising cost and risk associated with FOW project construction, operations and maintenance activities.
• Accelerated development and application of new technologies such as autonomous systems and remote monitoring systems.
• Increased supply chain capacity and reduced risk of bottlenecks.

More information on the work of the Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence can be found on its new website.