Bureau Veritas (BV) has delivered an Approval in Principle (AiP) certification to Dutch renewable energy company SolarDuck for its novel offshore floating solar platform King Eider, the first time such an approval has been granted to an offshore floating solar technology.
King Elder was first deployed in IJzendoorn, Netherlands in April this year. It consists of four triangular-shaped units, which are mounted by 156 solar panels and deliver a combined electrical output of 64 kWp to the grid.
The storm-resilient platform holds the solar panels more than three metres above water level and is optimized for offshore sites in estuaries, natural harbours, as well as near-shore sites.
Don Hoogendoorn, CTO of SolarDuck, commented: “In my decade in the maritime industry, I have learned how to optimize design for reliability, ease of maintenance and safety, while keeping them cost efficient. At SolarDuck, we aim to design systems that will last over 30 years, as I was used to doing when I built ships. Getting external official validation that our system performs as it should makes me proud of my team.”
