The Dutch-Norwegian company SolarDuck will erect a 5.0MW offshore floating solar farm as part of RWE's 760+MW Hollandse Kust West (HKW) VII offshore wind energy investment.

The project will become operational in 2026.

In mid-July 2022, RWE and SolarDuck signed a collaboration agreement to develop floating solar parks. Specifically, to accelerate the learnings on SolarDuck's floating solar technology, RWE agreed to invest in the first offshore pilot in the North Sea.

"This is a flagship project for SolarDuck and an important milestone for the wider OFS [offshore floating solar] industry. SolarDuck, being the first to build a hybrid project at this scale, will demonstrate the robustness of our solution, prove the important role of system integration in building future-fit energy systems, and enable the scaling of the technology to accelerate its adoption. We are proud to work together with our partner, RWE, in this important project," Koen Burgers, SolarDuck's CEO, commented.

In October 2022, SolarDuck announced it would partake in a joint industry project (24 partners, five observers) to standardise and develop regulations and guidelines for offshore floating solar energy.

The HKW VII site is located in the North Sea, about 53 kilometres off the Netherlands' coast. Once up & running, the farm will produce enough energy to supply almost one million Dutch homes.

Photo: SolarDuck