The assembly of an offshore solar farm has been completed at the Port of Amsterdam in a ‘world’s first’ project that will integrate the system with an offshore wind farm in the North Sea, offshore Netherlands.
The system, supplied and built by Oceans of Energy, is larger than a football field and is set to integrate power supply at 759 MW Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind farm in summer 2025.
The wind farm, operated by Crosswind, a joint venture by Shell and Eneco, is located 18.5km offshore in the North Sea.
The assembly of the offshore solar farm has been completed at the Port of Amsterdam, and the system is ready for offshore installation.
The port assembly of the pre-fabricated floating solar units was completed within three days and sets the scene for scaling the technology towards large scale projects, according to Oceans of Energy.
“The innovation program of the Hollandse Kust Noord wind farm paves the way for key technologies that may further enhance offshore wind projects.
“The offshore solar scope is an exciting innovation that can contribute to more renewable energy production from the same site,” said Maria Kalogera, Innovations Manager, CrossWind.
“The Oceans of Energy offshore solar farm floats in the sea at water level, like a waterlily, therefore we have named it ‘Nymphaea Aurora’.
“Nymphaea Aurora is a water lily found in Northern Europe, that varies colors from yellow, symbol of energy, to red, a symbol of strength. Nymphaea is the family name for water lilies, which are nature’s solar collectors, floating at water-level, just like our technology.
“Large scale water-level offshore structures is something novel, it is the key innovation for technological and economical breakthrough of offshore solar worldwide. It allows scaling up to large sizes, with minimum material usage. Just like waterlilies can do,” added Allard van Hoeken, Founder and CEO of Oceans of Energy.