Advancing Technological Leap in the Area of floating offshore wind turbines Needed for a Transition to Innovative Clusters of green energy

Objective

Floating wind is essential to reach climate neutrality and cement Europe’s leadership in renewables globally. While floating wind technology has been proven technically feasible through prototypes commissioned in the past few years, its industrialisation and competitiveness still need to be demonstrated. A key limitation of current floating wind projects is the lack of integrated optimisation between turbines and floats, which leads to higher CAPEX and hinders commercial viability. Additionally, the absence of a European industrialisation framework for large-scale production and deployment of floating offshore wind turbines presents a challenge. Standardising manufacturing processes and optimising logistics are critical to avoid bottlenecks by 2030. In this context, ATLANTIC aims to drive a breakthrough in the sector by providing a holistic design solution, addressing both technology and European supply chains. The project will demonstrate a disruptive 5 MW floating unit with a pyramidal design, connected to the grid at Le Croisic, France. It will create a pathway to reach a Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) of 85€/MWh by 2030 (and 57€/MWh beyond 2035) with a carbon footprint <16 gCO2eq/kWh. Over two years, extensive data monitoring from the pilot will allow for future optimisation of industry-scale commissioning, addressing performance, environmental considerations, and future harbour logistics. It will also lay the ground for establishing a European supply chain to enable the large-scale production of floating offshore wind farms and enhance EU sovereignty. To achieve this ambitious objective, the industry-driven consortium of ATLANTIC gathers 13 entities from 6 different countries, including 4 industries and SMEs, 1 public-interest foundation, 6 research centres, 1 university and 1 regional organisation.