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Ahead of the upcoming Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Wind Energy Summit in South Korea, Principle Power and Shoreline Wind are showcasing their nearly decade-long partnership and collaboration in the field of Floating Offshore Wind (FOW). This partnership has played a pivotal role in advancing FOW technology, positioning it as a key solution for developers in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
The Global Wind Energy Council forecasts that Asia’s offshore market will see nearly 100 GW of offshore wind capacity installed by 2030, with a significant share coming from floating wind projects. FOW technology allows for harnessing wind resources in deep waters, closer to demand centers, which is especially beneficial for countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. The rapid growth of FOW in the Asia-Pacific region is largely fueled by the successful deployment of floating wind farms in Europe, where Principle Power currently operates a 75 MW project, with an additional 30 MW under construction.
Principle Power, a pioneer in floating wind technology since 2007, began its collaboration with Shoreline Wind in 2016. The partnership stemmed from the recognition that planning commercial-scale wind farms required sophisticated simulations to account for the logistical complexities of building and operating projects in diverse geographies. With operational data from the WindFloat 1 project off the coast of Portugal, along with experience from the WindFloat Atlantic project, Principle Power sought Shoreline’s expertise in advanced simulations for offshore wind projects.
Shoreline, which had already developed simulation solutions for traditional fixed offshore wind projects, worked with Principle Power to adapt its software—Shoreline Design and Operations Design—to effectively simulate the design, construction, and ongoing operations of floating wind projects. These simulations have since been used to plan operations for major projects, including the 30 MW Fukushima Forward project in Japan, the 1.2 GW Korea Floating Wind project, and several initiatives in Taiwan. The software helps identify potential bottlenecks, optimize costs, and test the resilience of project execution plans under various scenarios.
According to Michael Bjerrum, Co-founder and COO of Shoreline, the unique requirements of FOW projects—such as the decision to perform major component repairs in-situ or tow platforms to a local port—require detailed analysis of weather conditions, port availability, and vessel mobilization. Shoreline’s software addresses these complexities and provides FOW developers with the tools necessary to assess costs and risks.
Inês Serras Pereira, LCoE and Business Intelligence Lead at Principle Power, emphasized the importance of combining real-world data from operational floating offshore wind projects with Shoreline’s simulation technology. This approach ensures that developers can deliver realistic, optimized execution plans while accounting for the challenges posed by offshore conditions and weather variability.
The collaboration has extended beyond simulations, with Shoreline also providing its Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for the WindFloat Atlantic project, where Principle Power is responsible for platform inspection, maintenance, and repair services. The ongoing partnership between Shoreline and Principle Power continues to evolve, with new developments such as in-situ repairs being integrated into their simulation capabilities.
As Floating Offshore Wind technology continues to grow, the partnership between Principle Power and Shoreline Wind offers a blueprint for successful project planning and execution. Their combined expertise is instrumental in unlocking the potential of deepwater wind resources, supporting the Asia-Pacific region’s renewable energy goals and contributing to the global push for sustainable energy solutions.
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