Photo: Oceans of Energy
Dutch company Oceans of Energy has assembled its new floating photovoltaic plant in the Port of Amsterdam in just three days. The modular facility is about to be towed and integrated with the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind farm on the North Sea, creating a hybrid power plant.
The Nymphaea Aurora floating solar power platform comprises 1,400 photovoltaic panels on 196 floaters. It features reused metals at 70%, while the share of reused polymers is 80%. The name is inspired by a water lily and how it gently floats, while aurora is the Latin word for dawn.
SolarPower Europe promoted the project after the modular platform was assembled in the Port of Amsterdam in just three days. It is about to be towed to a spot 22 kilometers offshore IJmuiden on the North Sea. There it would be installed within the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind farm.
Using just 3% to 5% of the space between turbines for solar panels can boost energy output by over 20%, all while using the existing energy system infrastructure, the update adds.
Next step after Nymphaea Aurora is scaling up so units reach 10 MW, 100 MW, 1 GW
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Oceans of Energy Allard van Hoeken claimed Nymphaea Aurora is the world’s first offshore solar farm to be installed within an operational offshore wind park.
However, China’s State Power Investment Corp. (SPIC) commissioned one such facility in 2022. It used Ocean Sun’s technology for the two solar power units offshore Haiyang, a city in Shandong province in eastern China. It connected them with an offshore wind turbine. Several other hybrid offshore wind and floating PV projects have been initiated over the last few years.
Van Hoeken: Everything you do at sea is very scalable
Combining the two renewable energy technologies brings variation into the generation profile, Van Hoeken noted.
“There is more solar energy in the summer and more wind energy in the winter. The next step is scaling up the farms from 1 MW to 10 MW, to 100 MW and to 1,000 MW. This is the size that offshore solar offers to the world, because everything you do at sea is very scalable,” the CEO stressed.
Hollandse Kust Noord is operated by CrossWind, a joint venture between Shell and Eneco. The 759 MW facility consists of 69 wind turbines, while Nymphaea Aurora brings only 0.5 MW. It takes up one hectare and it will be moored at a location with water depth of 25 meters.
Oceans of Energy deployed three standalone offshore PV units so far
In 2019, Oceans of Energy installed the world’s first floating solar power plant at sea, North Sea 1. Initially located one kilometer from the shore, it had 8.5 kW in capacity. It was expanded to 50 kW the following year and moved to a spot 15 kilometers away, near The Hague. It is an area with high waves, of up to 13 meters.
The firm earlier said it would expand its other pilot facility, North Sea 2, to 1 MW. It is 12 kilometers from the shore. North Sea 3 was deployed last year for testing off the Belgian coast.
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