RWE taps civil engineers to slash floating wind costs

Two weeks ago, RWE Renewables announced that it would team up with Saitec Offshore Technologies to test the latter’s floating offshore wind platform off the Basque Coast. With an embedded history of large infrastructure projects, the start-up’s parent company Saitec will be key to providing the necessary cost reduction for the technology if it is to survive the impending consolidation that will dominate the floating wind sector through the 2020s. The joint venture’s pilot project, DemoSATH, aims to start operational testing from 2021. The partnership followed months of discussions, with RWE to provide significant investment and support through development activities. The project will use a reduced 2 MW turbine for a low-cost demonstrator, although Saitec claims that to incorporate a…