The certification was awarded by Sille Grjotheim, director for Floating Offshore Wind, DNV, on 7 October at the Floating Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen.

Presented to Clare Lavelle, project director, Buchan Offshore Wind, the award recognised the progress in developing Buchan’s foundation design as the project heads towards commercial-scale delivery.

DNV has given important independent validation of the design Buchan has selected as its preferred floating foundation. 

The certification provides further confidence in the project’s technology and its route to commercial-scale delivery.

Lavelle said: “Achieving DNV Basic Design Certification is a significant milestone for the Buchan project, reflecting the expertise, commitment and hard work of the team, and is an important step towards the industrialisation of floating offshore wind in Scotland.

“The opportunity for floating wind is no longer about proving the technology.”

Lavelle added: “It is about moving to commercial-scale deployment, establishing serial production and building the supply chains and infrastructure needed to create a competitive new industry.

“Buchan has an important pathfinder role to play in making that transition and helping establish Scotland’s capability to manufacture concrete floating foundations at scale.

“We have an ambitious but deliverable timetable giving government, investors and the supply chain a clear line of sight to construction by the end of this decade and delivery by the middle of the next.”

Grjotheim said: “Floating wind has already demonstrated that the technology works; the next challenge is to show that projects can be built robustly, financed with confidence and replicated at scale.”

Paul De La Guérivière, chief executive officer of BW Ideol, said: “DNV’s certification of the Buchan-specific Damping Pool® design is a strong signal of the maturity of our technology.”

The Damping Pool® has already been deployed and has operated in a number of floating wind projects globally.

Buchan’s certified Damping Pool has been developed specifically for the project’s harsh North Sea site. 

Project partner BW Ideol has an exclusivity agreement with the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility for the manufacture of concrete floating foundations. 

BW Ideol is also working towards delivering a new serial production facility at the ex-oil and gas fabrication yard located on the Moray Firth.