Norway will build the world’s first floating wall of wind turbines

Norwegian company Wind Catching Systems announced that it has received expert approval for the creation of a prototype of a giant floating wall of wind turbines. Four 40 MW plants will be built to be deployed along the Norwegian coast. Each of them will be a vertical field of many turbines with rotors of reduced diameter. This approach will ensure ease of production, deployment and maintenance against the backdrop of multiple growth in output.

Image source: Wind Catching Systems

The WCS floating wind farm has received support from major global investment funds. If successful, it could transform wind energy. Instead of single high-power wind turbines, and China is already approaching the production of single 22-MW wind turbines with blades up to 150 m, the Norwegians are actually offering a modular assembly of many smaller turbines with blades up to 15 m long. The modular farm will greatly reduce logistics costs, and also service. Repairers won’t need to be rock climbers. An ordinary construction gondola will take them to the repair site on the windmill.

The company’s peer approval comes from international registrar Det Norske Veritas (DNV), which is renowned for developing standards, rules and regulations that guide national agencies and regulators to create their own and international standards in the shipping, oil and gas, renewable energy and other industries. This triggers the creation of a 40 MW “wall of wind” project, the first of which will be installed off the coast of Øygarden in southwest Norway.

The WCS floating wind wall project was presented in 2021. The company’s approach was both impressive and controversial – it proposed a farm as tall as the Eiffel Tower (324 m) with a capacity of 126 MW. Nevertheless, the project attracted investors’ interest. During its first round of fundraising, the company received about $10 million from GM Ventures and entered into a strategic technology development agreement with General Motors.

Grants of NOK 22 million and NOK 9.3 million ($2.1 million and $0.9 million) followed in September 2022 and February 2023. These grants are provided by Enova SF, a Norwegian state-owned enterprise that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and explore new clean energy technologies. The funds received were used to carry out several developments, including the creation and testing of a prototype floating base for a giant farm. It will be amazing to see this project implemented at sea.