International Collaboration for Floating Wind Innovation

A major international collaborative project involving 12 partners from eight countries and worth €7.3 million is set to drive forward development of the next generation of floating wind substructures.

The European Horizon2020-funded programme LIFES50+, led by Norway’s MARINTEK (and involving Politechnico de Milano, DTU, Ramboll, ORE Catapult, Universität Stuttgart, Iberdrola I&C, Ideol, DNV GL, Tecnalia, Insitut de Recerca en Energia Catalunya and Dr.Techn. Olav Olsen), will run for 40 months and will focus on proving the innovative technology that is being developed for floating substructures for 10MW wind turbines at water depths greater than 50m.

The first step in the project will be to optimize and qualify, by early 2017, two floating substructures concepts for 10MW turbines. The consortium partners have chosen to focus on large wind turbines as these are seen as key to reducing the cost of energy generated from offshore renewables. The chosen concepts will be taken from an existing list of four and the selection will be made based on technical, economic, and industrial criteria. This methodology will be supported by existing numerical tools, and targeted development and experimental work.

Ultimately, the project will facilitate innovation and competition in the industry, reduce risks, and therefore contribute to a lower levelised cost of energy. Significant findings from the project will be disseminated publicly and will be of interest to developers, designers, manufacturers and decision makers.

Petter Andreas Berthelsen, Research Manager – Ocean Energy for MARINTEK said: “We are delighted to be leading this project, and working in collaboration with an international range of organisations who bring vast experience and expertise to this ground-breaking project for developing innovative solutions for floating substructures. This project will help move us towards more cost-effective offshore wind energy.”