Offshore wind farm in North Sea to host 5 MW floating PV plant

SolarDuck, an offshore solar developer in the Netherlands, has been chosen to build a 5 MW floating PV project with energy storage. It aims to start operations in 2026.
Image: SolarDuck

SolarDuck has been selected as the exclusive provider of offshore solar technology for the Hollandse Kust West (HKW) wind farm in the North Sea, off the west coast of the Netherlands. German utility RWE won the bid to build the hybrid large-scale wind farm.

SolarDuck will build the 5 MW offshore solar array for the project, which will include an undisclosed amount of energy storage capacity. It is expected to go online in 2026, according to a statement by the two companies.

“SolarDuck, being the first to build a hybrid project at this scale, will demonstrate the robustness of our solution, prove the important role of system integration in building future-fit energy systems, and enable the scaling of the technology to accelerate its adoption,” said SolarDuck CEO Koen Burgers.

The Dutch offshore PV specialist expects the project to accelerate the commercialization of its offshore solar technology.

“The complementarities between wind and solar resources as well as making better use of existing infrastructure and the ocean space will drive the growth of hybrid [offshore floating solar] projects,” it said in a statement.

In 2021, SolarDuck unveiled the first demonstrator project for its floating structure technology. The 64 kW system was deployed on an inshore site on the Waal (Rhine River), the widest river of the Netherlands, near IJzendoorn, a village in the province of Gelderland.

Its structures hold the solar panels more than 3 meters above the water surface. The system can handle coastal sea conditions and hurricane-force winds, but it is optimized for offshore sites in estuaries and natural harbors, as well as near-shore sites. The basic floating platforms are triangular structures measuring 16 meters x 16 meters x 16 meters. They resemble offshore floating wind platforms or floating oil platforms. They can be flexibly connected together to form large plants.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].

More about
Written by

Comments

Floatovoltaics: Floating Photo voltaic Panels – Evolution Electric
Apr 02, 2024

[…] lowering improvement prices. Likewise, photo voltaic engineers are additionally analyzing combining offshore wind farms and floating photo voltaic farms, which may use the identical transmission line. For instance, there’s a undertaking […]

2022 review in trends: Applications (Part I) – pv magazine International – pv magazine International – Mario Worlds
Jan 05, 2023

[…] the project is still ongoing, in November 2022 SolarDuck announced it had been selected to build a 5 MW offshore FPV project with the Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm in the North Sea.Image: Solar DuckIslandable […]

Japan’s first offshore floating solar demonstrator – pv magazine International – pv magazine International – EarningWays
Dec 15, 2022

[…] inshore site on the Waal (Rhine) River, near IJzendoorn, Gelderland, the Netherlands.More recently, SolarDuck agreed to develop a pilot project in the North Sea in cooperation with the Delft University of […]

North Sea offshore floating solar project secures funding
Nov 19, 2022

[…] SolarDuck was recently selected to build another 5 MW offshore floating solar project in the North Sea. […]

North Sea offshore floating solar project secures funding – pv magazine International – Solar Is New Energy
Nov 18, 2022

[…] SolarDuck, a Dutch-Norwegian offshore floating solar developer, has agreed to develop a pilot project in the North Sea in cooperation with the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), and Deltares. The consortium has secured €7.8 million in funding from the Dutch government. […]