SolarDuck (Renewable energy company) and the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) have been awarded a USD 3.65 million subsidy from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) to advance a floating offshore solar platform designed to supply power and utilities to remote subsea assets.

The funding supports the Steady Seas research programme, which will focus on developing the foundational design of SolarDuck's Offshore Floating Power and Utility Hub.

Addressing a Growing Gap in Offshore Power Supply

As offshore energy activity extends further from shore, the challenge of delivering reliable power to remote infrastructure has become more acute. Subsea oil and gas installations, Carbon Capture and Storage projects, offshore monitoring systems, and other remote assets currently depend heavily on long subsea cables, umbilicals, or diesel generators for their energy needs.

According to SolarDuck, these conventional approaches carry significant drawbacks, including high installation complexity, vulnerability to damage, and considerable carbon intensity.

SolarDuck's Offshore Floating Power and Utility Hub is designed to offer an alternative to these established methods. The platform is conceived as a redeployable offshore unit capable of generating renewable power at the point of need, with integrated energy storage and auxiliary systems built in to support continuous operations.

The company states that this approach has the potential to reduce lifecycle costs for CCS and subsea tie-back projects and to unlock new investment opportunities in those sectors.

What the Steady Seas Programme Will Deliver

The Steady Seas programme builds directly on operational experience and data gathered through SolarDuck's earlier DEI+ Merganser project, which was conducted in the Dutch North Sea.

Under the new research programme, the two organisations have defined a clear division of responsibilities. SolarDuck will lead the overall design of the Offshore Floating Power and Utility Hub and manage system integration across the platform.

MARIN will contribute hydrodynamic analysis, computer simulations, and physical basin testing to validate how the platform behaves under realistic offshore conditions.

The scope of the technical work covers several interconnected areas that are critical to making the platform viable for commercial deployment. These include hydrodynamic performance, mooring systems and motion behaviour, the integration of power and communications systems, and the interface between the platform and subsea infrastructure.

The programme is intended to translate lessons learned from earlier offshore solar pilot projects into a robust basic design that is tailored specifically to the needs of offshore oil and gas operations, carbon capture and storage, and other remote offshore applications.

The results generated through Steady Seas are expected to support the next step toward demonstration projects with offshore industry partners, according to the company's announcement.

Partners and Funding Background

The USD 3.65 million subsidy comes from RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, which administers Dutch government support programmes for innovation and sustainable development.

MARIN, the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands, is a well-established research organisation specialising in the hydrodynamic performance of ships and offshore structures, making it a natural partner for the wave response and mooring analysis components of the programme.

SolarDuck is a developer focused on offshore floating solar technology. The Offshore Floating Power and Utility Hub represents the company's effort to move beyond generating power for grid connection and instead target the specific operational requirements of remote offshore and subsea industry users, where grid connection is not a practical option and current power solutions carry high cost and environmental penalties.
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