Spain’s Saitec Offshore has started the construction of a scaled-down version of its SATH (Swinging Around Twin Hull) floating wind turbine prototype – BlueSATH.
This 1:6 version of the BlueSATH turbine is scheduled to go online during the first quarter of 2020 in the open sea waters offshore Santander for a period of 12 months, after which the prototype will be completely decommissioned.
Testing will take place in a real sea environment with the deployment of the scaled prototype of a 10MW wind turbine in the Abra of Sardinero.
The scaled version will have a hub height of 17.45 metres and will weigh around 50 tons. The turbine model used will be an AE-30kW (Aeolos) with a rotor diameter of 15 metres.
The main objectives of the BlueSATH project cover the SATH platform validation of its response and dynamic behavior. The aim is to obtain models that allow for structural optimization, enabling cost reduction and validating structural turbine integrity.
The obtained results and findings will be applied in the following 2MW real-scale model to be installed on the Basque Marine Energy Platform (BIMEP) in 2021.