FLOWIN Teams Seeking Supply Chain Partners to Bring Designs to Market

Nine teams that have designed innovative floating offshore wind platforms are currently seeking suppliers to help develop a pathway for mass manufacturing and deployment of their floating substructures as part of Phase Two of the Floating Offshore Wind Readiness (FLOWIN) Prize program. FLOWIN is sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in partnership with the Business Network for Offshore Wind, which serves the industry by connecting supply chain companies to FLOWIN teams to advance their efforts in developing submissions for Phase Two. ?

Phase Two submissions are due January 19, 2024.? The 5 winners of Phase 2 will receive $450,000 and will be eligible for Phase Three of the competition.?

The FLOWIN prize is intended to advance floating platform manufacturing and improve supply chain readiness, ultimately enabling mass production of floating offshore wind substructures. This will be accomplished by encouraging collaboration between companies and relevant labor unions to manufacture and deploy floating offshore wind at scale. In this phase, teams are aiming to research and develop plans to transition from proven designs to serial production. Competing teams are looking to address manufacturing and logistics gaps.?

Each team’s submission will include supply chain and workforce assessments evaluating how to meet supply, service, and fabrication requirements most effectively while maximizing domestic content. The submissions will include the supply chain companies and partnerships required by the platform designers.??

The teams’ submission will be evaluated across four categories:?

1. Platform Design Status and Suitability for Purpose?
2. Demonstrate among other things that the design has been tailored to facilitate mass manufacturing.?
3. U.S. Production Planning?
4. Establish manufacturing, supply chain, and deployment plans and address domestic content.?
5. U.S. Location Considerations?
6. Identify locations where platforms could be assembled and deployed, and how workforce needs are going to be met.?
7. Commercialization Pathway and Execution Plan?
8. Develop a plan to manage progression from the proven design to commercial scale.?

The teams are seeking to connect with companies on the West Coast and near the Gulf of Maine. The areas of need are as follows:?

• Turbine assembly/integration bolting (traveling teams)?
• Large anchor handling vessels (owners and operators)??
• Towing and installation vessels?
• Substructure assembly yard or port on the U.S. West Coast?

• Location for assembling large blocks of hull structural components into a complete hull structure.? The hull structural components will be fabricated in a fabrication yard.???

• Electrical/mechanical systems contractors/suppliers??
• West Coast suppliers?
• West Coast steel fabricators?
• Offshore and subsea construction ?
• Steel fabricators?

• Subsea connectors?
• Mooring chain & rope?
• Shipyards?

If you are a supplier with capabilities in these areas and are interested in connecting with floating offshore wind platform designers, contact Ross Gould at [email protected].??

To learn more about the nine FLOWIN Teams, see the DOE press release announcing winners from Phase 1. For more information about Phase 2, see the rules here.??