Marine renewables developer Atlantis Resources has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French floating foundations designer Ideol to collaborate on a floating wind project off the UK.
The collaboration will seek to initiate the development of a floating offshore wind project of up to 1.5 GW, with a pre-commercial phase of up to 100MW commissioned by 2021, Atlantis said.
Under the MoU, Atlantis will lead the review, selection and consenting of UK sites and in attracting third party funding.
Ideol will design the technical concepts and be the exclusive provider for the floating foundation systems.
”Abundant offshore wind resources, governmental incentives and support frameworks combined with extensive oil and gas, maritime and fixed offshore wind experience will position the UK as one of the market leaders for floating wind projects. Atlantis and Ideol intend to deliver the pathfinder project that will catalyse a boom in future floating offshore wind development in the UK,” Atlantis said in a statement.
Potential development sites will be disclosed in future statements, however the Ideol foundation opens vast new development opportunities in resource rich locations right across the UK, Atlantis said.
“With two full-scale demonstrators currently under construction in France and in Japan, as well as a pre-commercial wind farm under permitting in the French Mediterranean, Ideol and its patented damping pool® technology are at the forefront of a cost competitive and rapidly accelerating floating offshore wind industry,” Paul de la Guérivière, Ideol’s CEO, said.
”Our strategic goal is now focusing on the development of large commercial scale wind farm projects with several opportunities currently under review in and outside of Europe. We are very excited by our partnership with an ambitious organisation such as Atlantis which has demonstrated its unique ability to develop innovative projects and to catalyse financing from strategic investors, in particular in a key market for Ideol such as the UK.”
The MoU follows Atlantis’ recent decision to establish Atlantis Energy, a new internal division to expand its offerings into non-tidal stream project development, which, according to the company, has generated much interest from potential investors, developers and industrial partners, particularly in the floating offshore wind sector.
“This MoU is a significant step in our diversification strategy and leverages our existing skill set accumulated during the progression of our tidal portfolio. To now be seeking to develop a large floating offshore wind project alongside the UK’s largest tidal stream project is truly exciting. We want to leverage Ideol’s expertise in designing, engineering, building and installing floating offshore wind substructures to bring UK consumers affordable, sustainable and secure power,” Tim Cornelius, CEO of Atlantis, said.