Scottish Project to Explore Tugdock Tech Application to Accelerate Floating Wind Development

September 28, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

The joint venture behind the Salamander floating wind project and the UK developer of marine buoyancy technology, Tugdock, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on research and innovation related to the development of technologies and supply chain for floating wind energy in Scotland.

The 100 MW floating wind farm, developed jointly by Simply Blue Group and Ørsted, and Subsea7 as a minority partner, is one of the 13 projects selected in Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round and one of the five INTOG innovation projects which signed exclusivity agreements with Crown Estate Scotland in May.

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The pre-commercial-size floating wind farm will be located 35 kilometres off the coast of Peterhead in North-East Scotland and is planned to deploy innovative floating offshore wind technologies to support the cost reduction and learning journey needed for the commercial deployment of floating offshore wind.

The MOU with Tugdock brings in the Cornwall-based company’s technology into the mix, which enables floating wind foundations to be built or assembled, and the turbines integrated, in ports that have water depth or space restrictions.

The technology consists of a modular road transportable space frame with the use of air lift bags that are filled and then vented using compressed air.

By confining the air lift bags into a space frame configuration and deck arrangement, the technology can be used as additional buoyancy modules or submersible platforms, according to the company, which recently also entered into a partnership with the US-based company Crowley to explore the potential use of the Tugdock Submersible Platform (TSPs) in locations such as the US West Coast.

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“Tugdock is a highly innovative young company and we are looking forward to working closely with them to explore the applications of their technology,” said Tom Brown, Innovation and Interface Manager of Salamander Offshore Wind.

Shane Carr, CEO of Tugdock said: “The objectives of this exciting collaboration are for Salamander Offshore Wind and Tugdock to jointly develop innovative knowledge and technologies to accelerate the development of floating wind energy. This is currently a fast-evolving industry around the world. We are delighted to have agreed this forward-looking collaboration and we are confident that it will lead to significant progress.”