An offshore solar farm is used close to an existing wind farm as part of a project in the Dutch North Sea. The developers recently installed an anchoring system that holds the solar farm in place, while an electric cable connects the array with a nearby wind turbine foundation.
An anchoring system for an offshore solar project is installed on the site of an existing offshore wind farm.
The installation formt is part of an ongoing project that will see a solar farm, supplied by Nederlands Solar Company Oceans of energydeployed on the Dutch coast Noord Offshore Windpark, which is 22 kilometers in the Dutch North Sea.
The project is invoiced as the world’s first offshore solar plus offshore wind project. The anchoring system keeps the solar farm in place while an electric cable connects the array with a nearby wind turbine foundation.
Oceans of Energy Founder & CEO, Allard van Heken, said that the installation of the anchoring system “is a huge milestone, because it works the first offshore installation for this groundbreaking project”.
Van Hoeken added that by combining offshore -Zonne -Zonne -Energy with offshore wind, the site will bring a more continuous stream of electricity to land that could increase energy production to five times, while the same sea surface is used.
The existing 759 MW wind farm is managed by Zijwind, a joint venture between Shell and Dutch Utility Eneco. More details about the solar energy center were not announced.
“The reliability of the anchoring system is crucial, not only for the safety and stability of the floating solar park, but also to ensure that it works seamlessly alongside the surrounding wind turbines,” Crosswind Offshore Solar Project Manager, Jeroen van Loon.
Last week Oceans of Energy and Crosswind announced a successful factory acceptance test and delivery of the electric power cable, supplied by Swedish NK, which will transport the energy produced to the nearby foundation stack.
In 2019, Oceans of Energy used the world’s first offshore solar farm, a modular PV system of 50 kW, in the Dutch North Sea.
A report from DNV GL in December 2020 predicted that by 2030 the North Sea could host around 100 MW of floating solar capacity and 500 MW in 2035.
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