Buchan Offshore Wind has received Basic Design Certification from DNV for a concrete floating foundation developed by BW Ideol, marking a new engineering milestone for the nearly 1 GW offshore wind project in Scotland.
The certification covers the Buchan-specific version of BW Ideol’s Damping Pool® floating foundation, designed for conditions at the project’s North Sea site, approximately 75 km north-east of Fraserburgh.
The certificate was presented to Buchan Offshore Wind Project Director Clare Lavelle by Sille Grjotheim, Director for Floating Offshore Wind at DNV, during the Floating Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen on 7 October 2026.
The latest approval relates specifically to the foundation design developed for Buchan, rather than the standard Damping Pool® platform. BW Ideol’s standardised floating foundation for wind turbines rated at 15 MW and above previously received DNV Basic Design Certification in May 2025.
The Damping Pool® technology has already been deployed in floating offshore wind projects internationally. The Buchan design builds on this existing technology while incorporating requirements specific to the project’s offshore location.
Following the certification, Buchan Offshore Wind Project Director Clare Lavelle identified the development of large-scale manufacturing capabilities, supply chains and supporting infrastructure as key priorities for delivering commercial-scale floating offshore wind.
The developer is targeting the start of construction by the end of the 2020s, with project delivery planned for the middle of the following decade.
Buchan Offshore Wind estimates that the construction phase could support approximately 2,900 jobs in Scotland.
Meanwhile, BW Ideol is pursuing plans to establish serial production of concrete floating foundations in Scotland.
The company has an exclusivity agreement with the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility on the Moray Firth, where it plans to establish a manufacturing operation at a former oil and gas fabrication yard.
The proposed facility forms part of BW Ideol’s efforts to develop manufacturing capacity for commercial-scale floating offshore wind projects.
Buchan Offshore Wind is being developed by BayWa r.e., BW Ideol and Elicio, with a planned generating capacity of approximately 960 MW.
The DNV certification follows earlier progress in the project’s engineering programme. In July 2026, Kent was appointed Owner’s Engineer to support the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) phase, as previously reported by HMT News.
Once operational, Buchan Offshore Wind is expected to generate electricity equivalent to the annual demand of more than one million homes.
Further details of the foundation technology and the planned Scottish manufacturing operation are available through the developer’s official technical documentation.
