Principle Power and Aker Solutions, working together as the “FloatHOME” consortium, have been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy as a winner for the second phase of the U.S. Floating Offshore Wind Readiness (FLOWIN) Prize, the companies announced May 15.
The award consists of a $450,000 cash prize and $100,000 in technical assistance from the DOE National Labs. The prize money will be used to advance the companies’ WindFloat manufacturing, supply chain, and deployment plans in the U.S. market.
“Previously in Phase 2, we combined our insights from a 75-megawatt project in operation using WindFloat and feedback from domestic supply chain partners,” said Price. “The work has allowed the consortium to plan for maximized automation, streamlined project execution plans, and optimization of final assembly processes for serial manufacturing of low-risk solutions. We look forward to further engage with the US floating wind communities in Phase 3 as we optimize our design and delivery solutions for the unique challenges of the U.S. floating wind market.”
“At Aker Solutions, we have decades of fabrication and execution expertise having delivered large and complex structures to the offshore industry since the 1980s,” said Christoffer Valstad, senior vice president, Renewables US at Aker Solutions. “Utilizing our own yards, supply chain network and international footprint, we have the skills, know-how and infrastructure needed to optimize the design, engineering, and construction of floating offshore wind projects globally.”
“The FLOWIN prize has provided us with a unique opportunity to explore ways to serialize fabrication, drive further innovation and reduce costs for floating offshore wind.”
FloatHOME consortium has engaged both large-scale fabricators and smaller supply chain partners to assess their existing capacities and specific manufacturing requirements. This collaborative approach has enabled the consortium to build and evaluate various scenarios for serial production and assembly of WindFloat® foundations to support the vision of using purpose-built facilities to produce subcomponent modules and efficient assembly within American ports.
The FLOWIN Prize will award a total prize pool of $5.75 million, plus vouchers for technical support from DOE national laboratories to transition floating platform technologies to serial production, while fostering competitive domestic supply chains. The second round of the FLOWIN prize awarded $450,000 to each consortium, who are now eligible to compete in the third phase of the prize.
