SolarDuck’s floating solar plant Merganser nearing completion

SolarDuck’s offshore floating solar plant, Merganser, has come close to completion and is nearing the next phase of this project – the installation in the North Sea.

As the Duch-Norwegian company’s Merganser plant is approaching finalization at the TMA Logistics in Velzen-Noord, the next phase – the installation of the floating solar plant, is to happen shortly, said SolarDuck.

This solar plant has an installed capacity of 520 kWp and includes six interconnected triangular platforms, created to resist the severe weather conditions of the North Sea.

The SolarDuck’s floating offshore solar technology, which will be tested at North Sea Farmers’ offshore test site, located around 12 km off the coast of The Hague in the Netherlands, for a period of two to three years, received prototype certification from Bureau Veritas Group.

The certification of the Merganser prototype comes after receiving approval in principle (AiP) for its floating structure. 

The project’s realization has been attributed to collaborative efforts, marked by a celebratory gathering that brought together project partners and investors including RWE, TNO, Deltares, Delft University of Technology, MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands), Norsk Hydro, DMEC (Dutch Marine Energy Centre), WDH Cylinders, Dutch Wind Support, Invest-NL, Green Tower, Katapult Ocean, Link Venture Capital, Impulse, and others.

In February 2024, SolarDuck launched the first two platforms for the Merganser offshore floating solar project into the water at TMA Logistics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The platform floaters are manufactured at a Damen Yard in Poland, while assembly takes place in Amsterdam.

Merganser will be an operational laboratory for SolarDuck, which together with consortium partners TU Delft, TNO, MARIN, and Deltares will gather relevant data, such as platform motions, energy output, and life below the water surface.