Ideol and STX Bringing Substations to Floating Realm

Ideol Offshore and STX Europe Offshore Energy are developing a floating substation design for use on bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind farms starting at depths of 30 metres.

This universal and modular solution aims at being market-ready for France’s upcoming floating commercial tenders, the developers said.

The project is part of OPTIFLOT, a R&D project which also involves ABB and SNEF.

Based on Ideol’s patented and shallow-draft Damping Pool concept and designed to operate in the world most extreme environments, this universal floating substation is currently being designed and engineered with a target of maximum standardization and modularization that allow cost reduction.

”This project pushes the boundaries of the offshore wind market as offshore substations are a crucial component of a commercial array. This project allows us to add another string to our bow and demonstrates the wide range of potential applications our Damping Pool® technology can offer,” Paul de la Guérivière, Ideol’s CEO, said.

The market potential is huge, as 115GW of new offshore capacity is expected to be installed across the globe by 2030, according to the developers.

Frédéric Grizaud, STX Offshore Energy Business Unit Director, said: “We have the ambition to combine our experience of bottom-fixed offshore substations and floating units’ fabrication to deliver a strong and efficient solution. We believe in its competitiveness and in our contribution to lower LCOE that will make this new market a reality.”