Floating solar

Floating Solar Photovoltaics (FPV) is a strategic growth area in FOR. The Fred. Olsen-related companies’ 170 years of global experience from shipping, offshore construction, offshore energy production, and renewable power production, is used to manage technical and financial risks in our projects. We want to take a first-mover position as project developer, owner and operator in selected countries in Asia and Southern Europe, and FOR will typically team up with one leading and financially strong local power producer in each country we target.

Our projects will open new opportunities for solar generating capacity, especially in countries with high population density and competing uses for available land. To date all large-scale commercial FPV capacity has been installed on in-land freshwater bodies, e.g. dams and lakes.

Moving FPV into the sea represents the next big step forward for FPV, and this opens many new opportunities to populous coastal cities and island states to generate clean solar power at scale. At the same time, the harsher marine environment imposes stringent requirements on floats, anchors, moorings, and components.

To accelerate the technology development for near- and off-shore FPV, while managing the associated risks, we have initiated two key innovation projects. The first through our research collaboration agreement with SERIS (Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore) and the second with support from the European Union, the BOOST project (Bringing Offshore Ocean Sun to the global market).

SERIS and FOR collaboration

We have entered a bilateral agreement with the Solar Energy Institute of Singapore (SERIS) on near- and off-shore FPV. Our project will test multiple technologies, both in the laboratory and at multiple real-world testbeds. This collaboration was first announced by Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Mrs. Grace Fu, at the opening of the Asia Clean Energy Summit 2020, which is an integral part of the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW).

Near-shore and off-shore FPV systems face a number of additional challenges compared to FPV in sheltered reservoir conditions: in addition to tides, the waves and winds are generally stronger, implying that mooring, anchoring and dynamic loads become even more critical due to the combined effects and the increased frequencies of strong wave- and wind-loads. This leads to two major uncertainties that we will address through testing and innovation: (1) to substantiate a profitable working life of at least 25 years for near- and off-shore MFPV power plants, and (2) bankability and insurability, i.e. access to funding and insurance cover by achieving acceptable risk levels, which in turn would enable profitable returns on investment. The project will also tap into the knowledge and experience which the Fred. Olsen related companies have built from more than 170 years in shipping, off-shore construction, off-shore energy production, combined with SERIS’ in-depth expertise in PV technologies and floating solar.

After having mapped available marine-grade floating solar technologies, performed risk and economic analyses, and identified possible locations for test sites, the team will, in the next phase, invite selected technology providers for their participation in the first real-world testbeds, which are planned to be located in different climatic conditions across the world.

Image: Picture courtesy of SERIS (Solar Research Institute of Singapore)

BOOST project

Fred. Olsen has taken the initiative and established a consortium to test offshore floating solar power in the Atlantic Ocean.

Together with our partners Ocean Sun, Innosea, the Technological Institute of Canary Islands (ITC) and the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) we have received EU funding for testing and qualification of Ocean Sun’s floating solar technology. During the project the partners shall perform state-of-the art analyses, laboratory tests and build a full-scale 0,25MWp floating solar power unit in the sunniest part of Europe, off the coast of Gran Canaria. The offshore test location poses challenging sea conditions with up to 10m wave-heights and high winds. As such the project is an opportunity to explore the outer limits of Ocean Sun’s technology. The project was kicked off in January 2021 and has a duration of 30 months.

PLOCAN testing site at Gran Canaria (Picture courtesy PLOCAN)

For further information on our floating solar energy projects, please contact:

Rolf Benjamin Johansen
Director – Floating Solar
E-mail: rolf.benjamin.johansen@fredolsen.com

Floating solar

SERIS and FOR collaboration

BOOST project

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