7 October, 2026 – After the certification of BW Ideol’s standard 15MW+ platform in 2025, DNV has now certified the design developed specifically for Buchan Offshore Wind’s North Sea site.
DNV has awarded Basic Design Certification to the concrete Damping Pool® floating support structure designed by BW Ideol for Buchan Offshore Wind, the floating wind project of close to 1 GW under development around 75 km north-east of Fraserburgh, Scotland. The Damping Pool® is the design Buchan has selected as its preferred floating foundation.
The certificate was handed over on 7 October 2026 at the Floating Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen by Sille Grjotheim, Director for Floating Offshore Wind at DNV, to Clare Lavelle, Project Director of Buchan Offshore Wind.
From a standard platform to a site-specific design
This certification follows the Basic Design Certification granted by DNV in May 2025 to BW Ideol’s standard 15MW+ platform. The Buchan design builds on that proven technology and has been developed for the harsh conditions of the project’s North Sea site. DNV’s independent validation is a further step in the project’s engineering and certification process as it progresses towards delivery.
The Damping Pool® also ranked first in the Technology Leadership Board’s independent reports on floating wind technologies for the North Sea environment in both 2025 and 2026.
Towards serial production in Scotland
BW Ideol is a partner in Buchan Offshore Wind alongside BayWa r.e. and Elicio. The company has an exclusivity agreement in place with the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility for the manufacture of concrete floating foundations and is working on establishing a serial production facility at the former oil and gas fabrication yard on the Moray Firth.
Read the Buchan Offshore Wind news release: Floating foundation for Buchan Offshore Wind achieves DNV certification milestone – Buchan Offshore Wind