Exploring business in Floating wind & test facilities
In the development of renewable energy production and distribution it is important to explore new horizons. Installing wind turbines in deep waters as the Scottish or Norwegian coast and distribute from North to South will bring new challenges to the industrial supply chain. Do you like to know more how to expand your commercial business in these topics?
Feel free to join us in this event – Live or online.
Price
Live event:
Free for members of the Belgian Offshore Cluster (maximum 2 participants per member organization)
55€ for non-members (including network event) (optional: provide billing details when registering)
Online event:
Free but registration is required.
Programme
- 16.30 Registration
- 17.00 Introduction by Belgian Offshore Cluster
- 17.05 How to upscale to commercial size floating wind – Multi.engineering
- 17.30 Insights in the Scottish supply chain for offshore wind projects – Scottish enterprise.
- 17.55 Break
- 18.10 Challenges & phases in the construction of the Princess Elisabeth energy island – Elia
- 18.35 Test & research infrastructure and the (West) Flemish innovation ecosystem for offshore renewable energy – at your service – POM
- 19.00 Development of the METCentre & Floating wind projects in Norway – Norwegian Offshore Wind
- 19.25 Financial project support for international business by De Blauwe Cluster – De Blauwe Cluster
- 19.35 Conclusion
- 19.40 Network event - buffet & drinks
Speakers
Speaker session 1: Jef Monballieu – Multi.engineering
How to upscale to commercial size floating wind
At MULTI.engineering, we pride ourselves on our expertise in engineering and designing maritime structures that not only float but are also optimized for fabrication efficiency. This unique blend of skills has combined in the development of the Moray Base, an innovative piece of floating wind technology, designed with mass production and easy transport in mind.
Jef Monballieu from MULTI.Engineering will provide insights in the floating wind market and the critical role of scalable solutions to reach commercial scale.
Speaker session 2: Adam Swainbank – Scottish Enterprise
Insights in the Scottish supply chain for offshore wind projects
With an enormous project pipeline of more than 45 GWs of offshore wind, Scotland currently sits in the top 10 offshore wind markets worldwide.
There is 3.4 gigawatts operational or under construction, 6.7 gigawatts consented to or in the planning process, 30 gigawatts of proposed ScotWind projects, including 19.3 gigawatts of floating wind and 5.4 gigawatts allocated through Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing for exclusive development.
Adam Swainbank from Scottish Enterprise will give an update on the current state of play and how Scotlands supply chain is getting ready for this massive deployment.
Speaker session 3: Tim Schyvens – Elia
Challenges & phases in the construction of the Princess Elisabeth energy island
Construction of the Princess Elisabeth energy island will begin in March 2024.
It was already announced that Belgium would build the world’s first artificial energy island. Covering six hectares, in the middle of the Princess Elisabeth Zone, the Princess Elisabeth Island will be built on concrete caissons filled with sand. The island will house almost exclusively transmission infrastructure used to connect new wind farms of up to 3.5 GW capacity, as well as future interconnectors with the UK and Denmark (Nautilus and TritonLink).. There will also be a small harbour for maintenance crews and a helideck. Some 300 kilometres of alternating current cables (HVAC) and 60 kilometres of direct current cables (HVDC) will be installed around the island to connect all future offshore facilities to the Belgian high-voltage grid.
Tim Schyvens from Elia will introduce you in the challenges and phases of this unique project.
Speaker session 4: Tom Baur – POM West-Vlaanderen
Test & research infrastructure and the (West) Flemish innovation ecosystem for offshore renewable energy – at your service
Our region is worldly known for its innovation capacity in the field of offshore renewable energy and its pioneering experience since more than 16 years. Our part of the North Sea has been a large test and demo zone and offshore players went abroad with lots of lessons learned. Close collaboration between the offshore energy industry and knowledge institutions combined with state-of-the-art test and research infrastructure supported by policy makers stay key success factors.
Tom Baur from POM West Flanders will present an overview of the unique test and research infrastructure and related innovation support for offshore renewable energy - at your service and more in detail Blue Accelerator, the maritime test and demonstration platform, near the Port of Ostend in the North Sea.
Speaker session 5: Arvid Nesse – Norwegian Offshore Wind (online)
Developments in the METCentre / floating wind test facility
Norwegian projects in offshore wind
METCentre is one of the leading test centres for floating offshore wind. Metcentre has 7 concents available for full scale testing of floating wind turbines in harsh North Sea conditions. Most of these projects with different floater technologies will be deployed in 2026-2027 and will also be open for testing other technologies relevant for floating wind. In addition to this, we will also demonstrate the words first subsea cable hub for offshore wind.
Norway has a goal of 30 GW awarded within 2040. The two first wind farms, Sørlige Nordsjø (bottom fixed) and Utsira Nord (floating), will be awarded in 2024. The next round will be opened for applications in 2025.
Arvid Nesse, CEO in Norwegian Offshore Wind and METCentre will tell more about METCentre and Norwegian projects in offshore wind.
Speaker session 6: Ann Overmeire – De Blauwe Cluster
Financial project support for international business by De Blauwe Cluster
With support of the ELBE Eurocluster, a call for internationalisation services will be launched in 2024. Funding will be made available for European SMEs interested in promoting their offshore wind related solutions and/or products outside Europe. The target countries for 2024 are UK and Australia.
The ELBE Alliance gathers eight European reference clusters in the Offshore Renewable Energy sector, including Blue Cluster, which together bring nearly 1,000 companies and R&D organizations. Besides support for internationalisation, there is currently also a call open for individual services, for instance access to test facilities.
Ann Overmeire will introduce the funding for SMEs available for internationalisation under the ELBE Eurocluster umbrella.