Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, has awarded a grant of $107 million to Norway-based Wind Catching Systems for the deployment of a Windcatcher multi-turbine floating wind demonstrator.
The $107 million has been awarded to Wind Catching Systems’ subsidiary Wind Catching Demo for the deployment of a commercial demonstrator unit off the coast of Øygarden in Norway.
Wind Catching Demo is currently in the application process for a demonstrator license that involves a total of four units based on the Windcatcher design with a total installed capacity of up to 250 MW.
The project has been awarded financial support through Enova's scheme for small-scale commercial offshore wind projects.
The support scheme is intended to make floating offshore wind installations along the Norwegian coast cheaper and faster.
The Windcatcher is a highly scalable unit, based on mass-produced smaller turbines and at-sea replacement of individual turbines without the use of specialized ships or cranes.
The result will be a concept with significant scaling potential, high acreage efficiency, which is said to drastically reduce operations and maintenance costs for floating wind.
The technology received an approval in principle (AiP) from DNV in July 2024, following a third-party technical evaluation of a design to assess whether there are any conceptual showstoppers or rule compliance aspects that need improvement.