Europe’s Largest Offshore Floating Solar Demonstration Plant

• EU has provided €6.8 million funding to a 5 MW OFPV project under the Horizon Europe Program 
• It is to be located within and electrically integrated with RWE's Hollandse Kust West VII project off the Dutch coast 
• RWE will invest in the installation and deployment of the Nautical SUNRISE project 

The Dutch-Norwegian cleantech company SolarDuck says a 5 MW offshore floating PV (OFPV) project has secured funding from the European Union (EU), calling it the largest OFPV demonstration project in Europe. It is planned to be electrically integrated with RWE's OranjeWind (Hollandse Kust West VII) Wind Farm off the west coast of the Netherlands. 

The Nautical SUNRISE OFPV project is expected to cost €8.4 million. It has now secured €6.8 million under the Horizon Europe program of the EU to carry out research and development (R&D) works. RWE will provide the investment for installation and deployment. 

Earlier in 2022, RWE and SolarDuck revealed a partnership for 500 kW OFPV project as a pilot demonstrator for the former's Hollandse Kust West VII offshore wind farm bid (see Pilot Plant For Offshore Solar In North Sea). 

Along with these 2 companies, the other Nautical SUNRISE consortium members are Dutch Marine Energy Centre (DMEC), Blunova – a Carlo Maresca Group company, Bridon-Bekaert The Ropes Group, Deltares, Hasselt University (UHasselt), KU Leuven, Oxford PV, SINTEF Industry, SINTEF Ocean, The Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC-CERCA), INESC TEC, and WavEC Offshore Renewables. 

These partners plan to conduct extensive research and testing to ensure the project's reliability, survivability, electrical stability and yield. Additionally, they will also assess the environmental footprint of the facility and full lifecycle sustainability of OFPV systems. 

"This assessment will not only cover the demonstrator project but also include multiple GW-scale commercial projects, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the technology's ecological implications," they state.  

"The outcomes of the project will enable the large-scale deployment and commercialization of OFS systems in the future, both as standalone systems and integrated into offshore wind farms," adds SolarDuck, which is providing its modular solutions for the project.  

Recently, SolarDuck announced a 540 MW grid-scale OFPV wind and solar project in Italy (see Large-Scale Hybrid Offshore Wind-Solar Farm In Italy).