Entrion has secured a patent for a ‘guyed monopile’, the Fully Restrained Monopile (FRP) with three supporting cables, which would introduce fixed-base offshore wind to 100-meter water depths – contrasting with the current maximum depths of between 60 and 70 meters. The system is due to reach commercial availability in 2027, with the very first proof of concept study having begun back in 2020. Meanwhile the world’s largest offshore wind market, China, expects that most of its offshore wind additions will be in the 30-meter to 60-meter depth range through the 15th Five-Year Plan Period (ending in 2030). These developments point to an expansion and blurring of categories within offshore wind – fixed-base is going further and further out from…