OMNI Features｜European industry kick off project to scale up offshore solar．RWE sets up offshore fleet service team．EDF to build Dungowan Pumped Hydro Storage Project in New England

（Source: Oceans of Energy）

｜European industry kick off project to scale up offshore solar
European industry has started an EU joint industry project (JIP) where floating solar technology is scaled up to standard formats of 150 MW enabling to build GW scale farms, total 16 European companies.

The BAMBOO project (Building scAlable Modular Bamboo-inspired Offshore sOlar systems) aims to resolve challenges for the rollout of large-scale offshore solar into new and existing wind farms. This also involves proving the robustness and performance of the floating solar panels in offshore conditions, alongside researching their environmental impact to ensure sustainability across the whole value chain of this industry.

This collaboration is coordinated by RINA and gathers offshore solar developer Oceans of Energy, technology developers Solarge, TKF, Pauwels Transformers, SolarCleano, technical and environmental consultancies RINA, ABS, Aquatera Ltd, Aquatera Atlantico, and WavEC, testing laboratories MARIN, Fraunhofer CSP, SIRRIS, the marine science-policy think-tank European Marine Board, and offshore wind farm developer Vattenfall as potential client for implementation.

｜RWE sets up offshore fleet service team
RWE is to establish an initial 30 person dedicated fleet servicing team for the UK and Germany to support its growing international offshore wind fleet.

The company’s ambition to triple its global offshore wind capacity from 3.3GW today to 10GW by 2030. To achieve it, RWE has signed a three-year agreement with Global Wind Services to provide expert team leads and technicians, both in the UK and Germany.

RWE has also signed an 18-month contract with Rem Offshore/Rem Purus to provide the service operation vessel Rem Wind to support RWE offshore wind’s fleet servicing. The fleet services team will operate 24/7 and remain on board the service operation vessel for 14 days at a time. Over 3 years it is expected that the newly created service model will create 70 new and highly skilled jobs.

｜EDF to build Dungowan Pumped Hydro Storage Project in New England
French energy giant EDF says it has acquired, and agreed to co-develop, the Dungowan pumped hydro energy storage project in the New England region of New South Wales.

Plans for building a 3000 MWh pumped hydro storage project at the Dungowan Dam have been in the works since 2014 and was officially proposed in 2018 as part of the larger 4GW Walcha Energy Project being developed by Australian renewable energy developers Energy Estate and MirusWind.

A proposed expansion of the Dungowan Dam was shelved in mid-2023 when the Federal government decided to withdraw funding in a move the NSW government said will save the state’s taxpayers $632 million. Last week it was announced that Origin Energy had bought the Ruby Hills wind project and the Salisbury solar project from the Walcha project owners, although there was no clarity at the time about the fate of the Dungowan pumped hydro project.

EDF has 436 hydroelectric power stations and 239 large dams and water intakes and a total of 22GW in pumped hydro capacity and 45TWH of annual generation. EDF says that the Dungoawanproject will have a capacity of 300MW for up to 10 hours of energy storage and will be located downstream of the existing Dungowan Dam.

Reference: OffshoreEnergy｜reNEWS.BIZ｜RenewEconomy