In order to develop the usage of floating solar parks in the sea and integrate them into an offshore wind farm to build a multi-source renewable energy project, the German sustainable energy company RWE and offshore solar energy developer SolarDuck have signed a collaboration agreement. In its proposal for the Dutch offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust West (HKW VII) for system integration, RWE selected SolarDuck as the sole supplier of offshore floating solar technology with integrated storage. A successful bid will integrate an offshore floating solar plant at a pre-commercial scale of 5 MW along with cutting-edge energy storage solutions into the offshore wind farm.
RWE intends to invest in SolarDuck’s full-scale offshore project “Merganser,” which has a nameplate capacity of 0.5 MWp, in order to hasten the development of the technology. Merganser, SolarDuck’s first offshore pilot project, is anticipated to be installed in the Belgian North Sea off the coast of Ostend. Merganser will provide RWE and SolarDuck with reliable first-hand knowledge that will enable the technology’s faster commercialisation starting in the following financial year.
Recently, RWE officially launched Clocaenog Forest, its largest onshore wind farm in the UK. The 96 MW onshore wind farm in North Wales has 27 wind turbines and can generate enough clean energy to power 63,800 UK homes. The project’s main contractor was Jones Brothers Civil Engineering UK.
