I am surprised that it is so expensive, but the cabling must be a challenge too....Floating wind is set to be a £400-5000bn global market by 2050, calculates the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, a UK research centre for offshore wind technology.
The big challenge now is cost. This new technology is expensive. Kilowatt hour for kilowatt hour, floating wind comes in at about the same price as new nuclear power.
But, unlike nuclear power, the expectation is that costs will tumble as the market grows.
Solar panel prices have fallen by 90% since 2010 as the technology has been rolled out at scale. Conventional offshore wind has also seen dramatic cost reductions.
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At least the floaters won't have major decommissioning costs or spent fuel to manage in perpetuity.