ORE Catapult Sharing Hywind Scotland Operational Data

Equinor and Masdar have joined forces with Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult to share operational data from the Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm.

The floating offshore wind data is available for supply chain businesses and academia through ORE Catapult’s Platform for Operational Data (POD) service.

According to Equinor, the shared data includes environmental data, motions of the floating wind turbine and loads in the mooring system.

By enabling access to this information, the three parties aim to better engage the offshore wind industry in the UK and internationally to foster collaboration and drive innovation in floating offshore wind.

The long-term goal is to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind, making the technology a cost-competitive industrial solution.

“This initiative shows Equinor’s strong commitment to support dissemination and education in the UK and abroad, as well as providing a platform for collaboration across the floating wind supply chain,” said Sebastian Bringsværd, Head of Floating Wind Development at Equinor.

“Floating offshore wind is a corner stone in our renewable strategy to become an offshore wind major and we believe this technology will play a key role in delivering the UK’s Sector Deal and decarbonisation goals.”

The 30MW Hywind Scotland, the world’s first commercial floating wind farm, comprises five Siemens 6MW floating turbines which were fully commissioned in October 2017.