Floating offshore wind is predicted to be a key contributor in the energy market throughout the next decade. Most areas open for floating wind farms today are in water depths ranging from 70- 250 m. However vast areas with high and more predictable wind resources could be unlocked by looking to areas of greater water depths.

Greater water depths ranging up to 1000m and above does not necessarily imply greater cost, as these depths would unlock a conceptual change for the mooring and cable systems. Further to this, the access to deeper water with high hydrostatic pressure could unlock the economy for deep-water energy storage solutions.

Deeper water locations could provide further benefits from reduced interaction with other users, such as fishery and ship traffic. Improved capacity factors are expected, which will increase annual production and could more than offset any additional investments related to mooring and cable system.

Ongoing work is evaluating shared mooring patterns, simplified cable solutions, combined with innovative energy storage systems. This combines the unique Norwegian know- how from complex marine operations, hydropower as well as offshore concrete structures. We believe that deploying this knowledge can unlock areas of the deep.