Floating offshore wind is the next chapter of the global renewable energy journey, and one Oceantic Network is eager to be at the forefront of.
Just last month, we convened industry minds, government leaders, and key maritime stakeholders in Sacramento, California to address one of the key barriers to floating on the U.S. West Coast — a shortage of port space and capable vessels.
We also launched our West Coast Supplier Council, an initiative aimed at bridging the gap between policy development and suppliers who have the industry expertise to help build a solid foundation for what’s to come.
This new, ongoing initiative is just one piece of our organization’s larger strategy to identify, connect, and support companies contributing to floating offshore wind’s advancement on the West Coast.
But building up an industry like floating offshore wind requires action from all sides.
That’s why we’ve created the FloatON Summit, a new offering at the 2024 International Partnering Forum (IPF), taking place April 22-25 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
At FloatON, we’re advancing the conversation from last month’s inaugural Floating OSW Port & Vessel Summit to include significant technological considerations, strategies for bringing new products to market, and thought-provoking approaches for scaling up the industry.
Want to hear directly from West Coast developers? What’s New & Spinning will bring project updates and procurement insights to IPF on the Exhibit Floor Stage, April 23, 24, and 25.
Oceantic Network has invited the best and brightest minds to this one-and-a-half day gathering to explain the market conditions, policy landscape, and financial and insurance mechanisms necessary to make floating offshore wind technology competitive and achieve commercialization in the United States.
One of our first FloatON panels on Wednesday, April 24 gets directly at this goal with the support of companies with global experience in floating offshore wind. Speakers from Hitachi Energy, Kiewit Energy Group, and Cierco Energy will offer insights into how to accelerate the adoption of floating technologies in the U.S.
The following day will offer an even closer look at the state of key floating technologies. Speakers in the Tech Talks session will give insight on existing challenges and new innovations in the realms of mooring and anchoring systems, array design, cables, and more. Earlier in the day, experts from Fugro, Aker Solutions, Equinor, and more will share innovative solutions to addressing mooring and anchoring challenges in seismically active areas like California, Oregon, and Hawaii, and advise project developers on how to guide decision-making given this geophysical factor.
At last month’s Floating OSW Port & Vessel Summit, many discussions focused on the infrastructure — both physical and policy — needed to construct and maintain floating wind farms in the West. Panels explored the status of California Assembly Bill 525, the Port Readiness Plan, and recapped findings from the Oceantic study, “Building a Network of Offshore Wind Ports.”
Keep an eye out for our upcoming analysis of the West Coast Supply Chain, which will leverage our Network databases examine existing industry capabilities in the region.
We will continue this theme of next steps at FloatON, and push discussions to cover more aspects of floating offshore wind technology than ever before. On Thursday morning, Tim Fischer, Global Executive Director and Vice President of Wind Business at Ramboll, will share new ways to approach market design. As new solicitations draw nearer, this presentation will explore opportunities to balance sustainability metrics and social concerns with traditional financial measures.
FloatON aims to be a forum for examining existing challenges through a fresh lens and considering the unseen potential in emerging technologies. Two Wednesday panels, “Stepping Stones to West Coast Commercialization” and “Preparing the Supply Chain: Leveraging Floating Solar as an Intermediate Phase,” seek to offer those new perspectives. Both are designed to be starting points for developing confidence in the supply chain.
To close out the Summit, Oceantic Network, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will take the stage for a discussion on the American-Made Floating Offshore Wind Readiness (FLOWIN) Prize. Speakers will share takeaways from this first-of-its-kind prize from DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, as well as learnings from the teams still actively competing to ready their floating platforms for cost-effective domestic manufacturing and commercial-scale deployment.
Want to see what else is on the FloatON Agenda? Explore both days here, and check back regularly for speaker updates.
Companies looking to break into the fast-evolving floating offshore wind space, as well as those already actively engaged, won’t want to miss the lineup of speakers and topics set to take the IPF main stage.
