Under the MoU, NOV will employ Lamprell as its provider for the fabrication, assembly and outfitting in relation to the construction of NOV designed tri-floaters to be used as floating foundations for the three wind farms, Lamprell said in a regulatory filing to the London Stock Exchange, where it is listed.
Formerly known as National Oilwell Varco, NOV is an American multinational corporation based in Houston, Texas, specialising in upstream oil and gas equipment and components.
In June 2021, Cerulean applied to develop a 3GW-plus floating wind turbine project at sites West of Shetland and in the Central North Sea, Lamprell said in a statement.
“NOV was named as the first of Cerulean's major delivery partners for fabrication for this proposed 200-plus turbine development and will act as the exclusive provider of floating and mooring systems. If approved, the project is anticipated to be commissioned in 2026.”
Floating wind is seen as a technology that could gain momentum, allowing wind turbines to be mounted on floating structures, instead of using fixed foundations in the sea. Tethering these structures to the sea-bed prevents them floating away from their designated locations to land or into shipping lanes.
"Today represents an important milestone for our floating wind ambitions. Our long history in the traditional oil and gas sector has stood us in good stead for our transition into the renewables space where we have been active since 2007,” said Lamprell ceo, Christopher McDonald.
“Offshore floating wind is a natural progression for the business and represents another step in the realisation of our strategy and establishing our credentials in the UK market. We look forward to supporting NOV in the development of this transformational project for the industry and Scotland.”
Cerulean says it is an authority in floating offshore developments with an ambition to develop 10GW of generation within the next five years.
In January, the UK government awarded Guildford-based Cerulean GBP825,000 to develop an integrated system between the mooring, floating foundation and wind turbine for deployment at an offshore oil and gas facility in the North Sea or West of Shetland, as part of GBP31 million of grants disbursed to support the development of UK floating wind.
“We are very pleased to have Lamprell on board with us as a partner for Cerulean's major infrastructure development. Lamprell's track record in offshore wind will complement our UK and European infrastructure and personnel and we look forward to making a joint contribution towards decarbonising the UK Offshore sector,” said Joe Rovig, President of NOV Rig Technologies.
Lamprell has other Scottish interests. Last month, it signed a capacity reservation agreement for the Moray West Offshore Wind Farm. In 2014, Dubai Drydocks World signed an agreement to build a second offshore wind converter platform for TenneT, the Dutch-German transmission-grid operator.
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