SolarDuck has been awarded a 3.2 million subsidy from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), together with the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), for the Steady Seas research program.
The project will advance the foundational design of SolarDuck‘s Offshore Floating Power & Utility Hub (OFPH), a single-platform offshore solar solution designed to provide reliable power, communications and other utilities to remote offshore and subsea assets.
The OFPH is being developed as a redeployable offshore platform capable of generating renewable power where it is needed. The platform also incorporates integrated energy storage and auxiliary systems to support continuous operations.
Steady Seas builds on operational experience and data gathered through SolarDuck‘s DEI+ Merganser project in the Dutch North Sea. Under the program, SolarDuck will lead the overall OFPH design and system integration, while MARIN will conduct hydrodynamic analysis, simulations, and basin testing to validate the platform’s behavior, reliability, and wave response under representative offshore conditions.
The research program will address hydrodynamic performance, mooring and motion behavior, integration of power and communication systems, and the interface with subsea infrastructure. It is intended to develop a robust basic design for a sector-specific platform supporting offshore oil and gas, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and other remote offshore applications.
Following completion of the research phase, SolarDuck intends to move toward demonstration projects with industry partners. Joint Industry Projects are being established to test the Offshore Floating Power & Utility Hub in operational offshore conditions and validate its ability to power and control remote offshore assets.
