First offshore solar farm in the world to be connected, installed and operated within a wind farm in high wave conditions

Leiden/Rotterdam, The Netherlands; April 24 2023 – Oceans of Energy has been awarded the contract for installing and operating offshore solar inside the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind park by CrossWind, a joint-venture between Shell and Eneco. This is the first offshore solar farm in the world to be connected, installed and operated within a wind farm in high wave conditions. The offshore solar farm will be realized in 2025, the wind park will be operational by the end of 2023.

With offshore solar added to offshore wind it is possible to also produce energy on sunny but less windy days and hence increase the utilization of the offshore power grid infrastructure. The solar panels will be situated in-between the offshore wind turbines, an efficient way of sharing the sea space. CrossWind’s Hollandse Kust Noord project is an innovative offshore wind park that will use cutting-edge technologies and engineering solutions to improve the flexibility of offshore wind parks.

The project has many first offs:

• First wind park in the world with an offshore combination of battery storage and round-trip green hydrogen produced from offshore wind power on a MegaWatt scale.
• First wind park that has committed to mature and demonstrate offshore wake control technologies like closed-loop active wake steering in combination with the novel active wake mixing in order to increase the efficiency of wind parks.
• First offshore solar system in the world electrically connected and operated within a wind park in harsh sea conditions.

Offshore solar is a promising area of renewable energy development

“We are excited to announce that we have signed a contract with Oceans of Energy for the development and deployment of the floating solar project in CrossWind,” says Maria Kalogera, Innovations Manager of CrossWind. “Offshore floating solar is an exciting area of renewable energy development that is poised to play an important role in the energy transition. This project marks a significant milestone for our CrossWind Innovations Team as we continue to push on our commitment to create better energy solutions for the future.”

“We are very pleased that Crosswind and their shareholders Shell and Eneco have trust in Oceans of Energy forrealizing this first off amazing project,” says Allard van Hoeken, founder and CEO of Oceans of Energy. “We will add offshore solar to offshore wind. Our performance and our system will be key for the success of the innovational part of the offshore wind farm. This is a large responsibility as Hollandse Kust Noord will function as an example for combined offshore wind and solar parks in the future.”