Monopiles and jackets will likely dominate the market during the next decade, said Marc Seidel, Leading Expert on Offshore Engineering at Senvion SE, in his new paper called “Substructures for offshore wind turbines – Current trends and developments.”
Mr. Seidel gave his view on the development of substructures in the paper based on his experience of more than 10 years.
Substructures for offshore wind turbines are huge structures – with total masses of 1000t or more for wind turbines of 5MW. As the current trend moves towards larger turbines of 6MW or more and deeper waters of 30m or more, demand on efficient substructure design increases.
As the water depths increase, the monopiles are exposed to greater loads, dominated by waves, which requires careful reconsideration of design methods and it can be anticipated that this will lead to the development of new calculation methods, writes Mr. Seidel.
This will also require developments in steel fabrication as thick plates, up to 150mm, are going to be needed for the fabrication of monopiles.
Before joining Senvion, formerly Repower, Mr. Seidel worked at the Institute for Steel Construction.
Offshore WIND staff, April 28, 2014; Image: sinovel