Rethinking offshore wind value

For years, the overarching mantra in offshore wind has been simple: lower the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). While cost reduction remains essential for industrializing floating wind, an equally vital, and often overlooked, side of the financial equation is emerging: maximizing the value of existing offshore infrastructure.

An offshore wind farm is an extraordinary capital investment. Subsea cables, floating foundations, moorings, and grid connections represent significant value sitting in harsh marine environments. Why should a floating turbine or test hub serve only a single purpose?

That question sits at the heart of the METCentre Challenge, launched under the EU RENEW-BOOSTER program. The initiative invited European SMEs to develop innovative "add-ons" and multitasking solutions capable of generating new revenue streams, unlocking data insights, or facilitating marine co-existence without compromising operational safety.

Two Norwegian Offshore Wind (NOW) members, Sea Breeze Consulting and Hydrakraft, are in the final heat of the challenge. Both already granted EUR 10.000 in funding, the winner will see the funding increase to EUR 50.000. And, hopefully, get their innovative concept turned into real-world solution at the Marine Energy Test Centre (METCentre) off the coast of Karmøy.

Standardizing power quality data: Sea Breeze Consulting

Demonstration and test sites like METCentre are vital proving grounds for next-generation technology. However, a major operational friction point persists: data governance and compatibility.

When multiple technology vendors operate on the same test grid, power quality (PQ) measurement instruments — monitoring voltage, current, and grid stability — frequently use proprietary formats. This creates data silos and makes cross-correlation extremely complex.

Haugesund-based engineering consultancy Sea Breeze Consulting is solving this bottleneck with their project, "PQ Data Management for Multi-Client Demonstration Projects."

Through Phase 1 of the RENEW-BOOSTER grant, Sea Breeze is establishing a standardized framework and shared data infrastructure for PQ monitoring. This enables seamless, secure data exchange between test site operators, technology demonstrators, and R&D partners while allowing companies to maintain full control over proprietary data.

"Data sharing between different companies operating at the same demo or test site is a well-known challenge in our industry," Henrik Kirkeby, Project Manager at Sea Breeze Consulting, states in a press release.

We are proposing a practical, scalable approach that gives the test centre, the demonstrators, and the wider research community better access to actionable insight, while respecting company IP.

By aligning with the objectives of the EU Net-Zero Industry Act, Sea Breeze aims to export this data governance blueprint across European test networks, directly enhancing the asset value of testing grounds.

Harnessing dual energy: Hydrakraft’s wave-wind co-location

While Sea Breeze optimizes digital and operational data flows, wave energy pioneer Hydrakraft is addressing the physical infrastructure itself.

Hydrakraft is developing the Hydra-WEC, a wave energy converter engineered to integrate directly with offshore renewable infrastructure. Under their RENEW-BOOSTER project, "Hydra-WEC Offshore Demo," the team is designing a cost-effective shared mooring and anchoring system that enables wave energy converters to be co-located with floating offshore wind turbines.

Instead of installing standalone marine energy assets with separate subsea cabling and anchoring, Hydrakraft’s concept leverages existing floating wind foundations and electrical export capacity.

This dual-use approach delivers two key advantages:

1. Higher Power Density & Utilization: Waves and wind peak at different times, balancing power generation profiles fed into the grid connection.
2. Reduced Infrastructure Expenditure: Capital costs are shared across multiple energy generation assets, squeezing greater yield out of every kilometer of subsea cable.

A strong signal for the Norwegian Offshore Wind cluster

The selection of both Sea Breeze Consulting and Hydrakraft highlights the depth of innovation within the Norwegian offshore energy supply chain. By bridging digital precision with marine engineering, these projects showcase how European SMEs are taking floating wind from single-purpose power plants to multi-functional marine platforms.

As floating wind scales across Northern Europe and globally, the ability to squeeze higher value, continuous power, and sharper data out of every offshore asset will distinguish leading developments.