Hexicon has selected China-headquartered Mingyang Smart Energy (Mingyang) as the preferred turbine supplier for its flagship 32 MW TwinHub floating offshore wind project in the UK.
Hexicon has also awarded Mingyang the wind turbine generator Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for the project, which is located 16 kilometres off the coast of Cornwall, England.
TwinHub will use Hexicon’s TwinWind floating foundation technology which will allow two of Mingyang’s MySE 8.0-180 wind turbines to be placed on a single foundation, which could enable more energy to be generated in a given area while reducing the environmental impact compared with a single foundation.
“The cooperation underlines our shared vision of improving the economics of floating wind through innovation. Additionally, the TwinHub project will showcase our capabilities in offering robust and versatile offshore solutions in one of the global hotspots for floating wind, and will be a great step forward for our future business in the UK and Europe”, said Dr. Wei Chen , General Manager of MingYang Europe.
Hexicon’s flagship project secured a Contract for Difference (CfD) in the UK Government’s most recent allocation round and is set to become the first floating offshore wind farm to be installed in the Celtic Sea.
The offshore site investigation works are well underway and the 32 MW project is expected to be commissioned between 2025 and 2027. London Marine Consultants were selected as Principal Designer for the floating project.
“The TwinHub project is also an important steppingstone that will encourage innovation and cost reductions in the offshore wind sector, contributing towards the UK Government’s target to deploy 5GW of floating offshore wind by 2030,” Hexicon said.