A new European project focused on offshore testing infrastructure for high-power floating wind turbines was officially launched at a kick-off meeting in Nantes, France, this month. The project is co-financed by the Interreg Atlantic Area programme through the European Regional Development Fund.
Named HiPoTeSis (High Power Test Sites to consolidate industrialisation of Floating Offshore Wind in Europe), the new initiative aims to address what the project partners describe as a major strategic gap: the absence of operational offshore test sites capable of hosting floating wind turbines of more than 10 MW before industrial deployment.
The project consortium says that, as future floating turbines are expected to reach capacities of 15, 20 or even 25 MW per unit, dedicated high-power test sites are needed to test, validate and de-risk these technologies ahead of commercial rollout.
“Without high-power offshore test sites, Europe cannot claim leadership in floating wind”, the HiPoTeSis project partners emphasised in a press release on 17 February.
During the kick-off meeting, partners outlined several areas of work, including assessing existing and planned offshore infrastructures, with a focus on testing capacity for turbines above 10 MW, and conducting a feasibility study into establishing high-power test sites along the Atlantic coast, including the development of joint governance models.
The project will also map stakeholders to improve coordination between public, industrial and scientific actors, and examine frameworks for economic and territorial benefits. Led by Fondation OPEN-C, the consortium brings together BiMEP in Spain, Companhia da Energia Oceânica (CEO) in Portugal, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), and PLOCAN (Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias), along with several associated partners.