Marine Power Systems from the UK is working with WavEC from Portugal to set up its modular floating offshore wind platform in the north of Portugal.
"Floating offshore wind is increasingly featuring in government decarbonization targets around the world and Portugal is no exception. The Portuguese government has shown its commitment to offshore wind with the recent announcement that it is targeting 10 GW of capacity by 2030 alone," Marine Power Systems said.
The company also cited reports according to which "a staggering 90% of the 131 GW offshore wind potential identified in Portugal is dependent on floating foundations as opposed to fixed bottom turbines."
WavEC is currently one of the co-managers of the Aguçadoura test site in the north of Portugal.
WavEC will support Marine Power Systems throughout the licensing and consenting process, as well as the environmental impact assessment and performance monitoring in Portugal.
With the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding, Marine Power Systems and WavEC intend to lay the foundations for a long-term relationship that identifies opportunities for the implementation of Marine Power System’s technology in Portuguese waters, including at the future Technological Free Zone at Viana do Castelo, and other potential sites.
Technological Free Zones provide a pre-consented area with grid connection where renewable energy technology can be more easily deployed and tested without incurring all the normal regulatory processes.
Gareth Stockman, CEO at Marine Power Systems, said, “This project will demonstrate our unique and modular floating platform technology, PelaFlex, at scale. Our technology has been designed to optimize local content delivery through a decentralised logistics model, and these benefits help utility scale developers minimise costs whilst maximising local economic benefits and accelerating industrial scale farm development. The deep-water zone at Viana do Castelo brings an excellent wind resource with a grid connection making it a first-rate site for deployment. We are thrilled to be working in Portugal and our partners bring huge expertise and local knowledge to the work we are doing there.”
Marco Alves, CEO at WavEC commented, “For many years now, WavEC (and Portugal) has been a leader in promoting marine renewable energies, both from technology and market development standpoints. We always welcome companies to test and demonstrate their technologies in an open deep-water Atlantic coast environment as the one in Viana do Castelo. We look forward to working with MPS on the deployment of their technology, providing support in licensing and consenting, environmental monitoring and impact assessment, performance assessment, and engaging with the supply chain.”