DNV Certifies Buchan Floating Offshore Wind Foundation Design

Buchan Offshore Wind has secured DNV Basic Design Certification for the BW Ideol-designed concrete Damping Pool floating foundation planned for its nearly 1 GW project off Scotland, marking a further engineering milestone ahead of commercial-scale development.

The certification provides independent validation of the project-specific foundation design selected for Buchan, which is being developed around 75 km northeast of Fraserburgh in the North Sea.

“Achieving DNV Basic Design Certification is a significant milestone for the Buchan project, reflecting the expertise, commitment and hard work of the team and is an important step towards the industrialisation of floating offshore wind in Scotland,” Clare Lavelle, Buchan Offshore Wind Project Director.

Buchan Offshore Wind is an equal joint venture between BayWa, BW Ideol and Elicio.

The Damping Pool design has been developed specifically for the conditions at the project site and builds on BW Ideol's floating foundation technology, which has already been deployed in several floating wind projects internationally.

The standard Damping Pool platform for turbines of 15 MW and above received DNV Basic Design Certification in May 2025.

“DNV's certification of the Buchan-specific Damping Pool® design is a strong signal of the maturity of our technology. We are proud to support Buchan Offshore Wind as it moves towards delivery, and we are working to establish in Scotland the serial production capability that commercial-scale floating wind requires,” added Paul De La Guérivière, BW Ideol CEO.

BW Ideol has an exclusivity agreement with the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility for the manufacture of concrete floating foundations and is working to establish a serial production facility at the former oil and gas fabrication yard on the Moray Firth.

Buchan offshore wind farm is expected to have a generating capacity of close to 1 GW and could feature up to 70 turbines, with a connection date of 2033. The project estimates it could generate the equivalent of the annual electricity needs of more than one million homes.