Oceans of Energy launches floating solar farm in Belgium

May 16, 2024, by Zerina Maksumic

Dutch offshore solar company Oceans of Energy has completed the North Sea Three (NS3) floating solar farm in the port of Oostende, Belgium.

The NS3 is a product of the company’s technology standardization, modularity, and simplicity, making it possible to assemble the NS3 floating solar farm in less than one day, said Oceans of Energy.

Building offshore structures efficiently, and assembling them from factory to water, enables the company to scale up to 200 MW formats.

The NS3 floating solar demonstrator aims to be the first grid-connected offshore solar farm at the Blue Accelerator – Maritime Innovation and Development Platform and a part of EU-SCORES, supported by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

“Our team develops, builds, installs, and operates offshore solar farm technology and projects fully in-house. Our projects are developed with large emphasis on environmental aspects and exploring nature-enhancing opportunities,” said Oceans of Energy.

The in-port assembly milestone is a step forward to the EU-SCORES’ objective of integrating offshore floating solar and wave energy into future multi-source parks.

Oceans of Energy focuses on building scalable, lightweight solar farms that use water surfaces to carry their weight, moving together with ocean motion.

Floating solar presents a renewable energy option for densely populated countries like Belgium, where space for offshore wind farms is limited. By integrating offshore solar panels among offshore wind turbines, up to five times more renewable energy can be generated in the same area. The company is to investigate offshore solar’s potential as a significant factor in Belgium’s transition to renewable energy.

Earlier this year, Oceans of Energy collaborated with WavEC, on an EU joint industry project (JIP). In that project, the floating solar technology is aimed to be scaled up to standard formats of 150 MW, enabling to build gigawatt-scale farms.

Compared to the NS2 which is operational at 400kW and set to expand to 1 MW, the future holds even greater ambitions with the NS3 which is projected to reach a multiple MW system size.