SolarDuck tests interconnected offshore floating solar platforms in scaled MARIN trials

July 1, 2025, by Zerina Maksumić

Dutch-Norwegian firm SolarDuck has completed a test campaign at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), involving 54 interconnected offshore floating solar platforms, with a real-world capacity of approximately 6 MWp (megawatt peak).

According to SolarDuck, this marks the company’s third test round at the MARIN offshore basin.

“We started two years ago with a single triangular platform, scaled up to six in the HEX-1 layout, and now to 54 platforms in the HEX-3 configuration,” the company said in a social media post.

The project scaled SolarDuck’s full-scale design down to a 1:20 model. According to the company, carbon tubes and lightweight connectors were used to replicate mechanical behavior while maintaining correct scale factors.

“This test focuses on the dynamic response of multi-body systems—looking at coupling forces, mooring loads, and the shielding effects of wind, currents, and waves. There’s still much to learn in our field about how slender, lightweight, multi-body structures behave, especially at the plant level,” said SolarDuck.

The company observed a pronounced damping effect from wind across the array.

“One key insight we can already share: wind has a clear damping effect. We saw this first on single platforms, and even more impressively across the full 54-platform array. As wind passed over the system, platform motion visibly decreased—confirming what we had predicted. Next, it remains impressive to see how the interconnected triangular shaped platform are coping with waves,” noted the company.

The campaign also included decay testing of single platforms, supporting future plans to deploy such units at remote locations. SolarDuck emphasized the role of MARIN’s motion tracking system in supporting the research.

MARIN’s Offshore Basin is a facility made to simulate and test the behavior of offshore structures, which are fixed, moored, or controlled by dynamic positioning, in waves, wind, and current. The basin measures 45 x 36 x 10.2 meters. According to MARIN, it is fitted with a pit with an extra depth of 20 meters and a diameter of 5 meters to install systems up to 3000 meters depth (prototype).

In January, SolarDuck conducted basin tests for its updated floating solar platform design at MARIN. According to the company, the tests were part of the DEI+ Merganser project consortium.