Combining offshore solar and wind: Maximising energy, minimising space

The ocean is becoming crucial for the sustainable development of our blue economy, including our offshore renewable energy and sustainable food sectors. However, maritime space is finite, and hosting these industries in combination with managing other uses of the sea is becoming more challenging. Multi-use of marine space offers an opportunity to optimise the limited space and minimise potential conflicts of use.

The EU-funded project BAMBOO (Build scAled Modular Bamboo-inspired Offshore sOlar systems), running through 2024-2027, aims to develop a blueprint for large-scale (>1km²) offshore solar systems that fit in the space between offshore wind turbines within utility scale offshore wind developments. This groundbreaking approach offers several benefits beyond co-locating blue economy activities. Energy production per unit of sea space could increase up to fivefold in offshore renewable energy development areas, including those located in the North Sea. This is enhanced by the complementary seasonal patterns of solar and wind energy in Europe, with more wind in autumn/winter and more sunlight in spring/summer. Additionally, co-location of these activities enables efficient integration and shared use of electrical infrastructure, known as 'cable pooling.' This maximises infrastructure capacity and offsets revenue losses from curtailment, significantly boosting energy generation from the shared marine space.

The project’s ambition is to tackle the challenges and barriers for the implementation of such sustainable, large-scale offshore solar systems and to provide a standard industry format for the rollout of offshore solar projects worldwide.

This presentation introduces the concept and benefits of combined offshore solar and wind developments, presents the ambitions of the BAMBOO project, and outlines the technical, environmental and other scientific challenges it is addressing. It highlights the importance of smart marine spatial planning and multi-use required to facilitate the sustainable development of the global blue economy. It also shares initial results from the project around the methodologies BAMBOO is developing for assessing and managing the potential environmental and life cycle impacts of large scale offshore solar developments.