The TetraSpar Demonstrator floating wind turbine has been connected to the Norwegian mainland, RWE said.
The fully-assembled floating wind turbine, comprising the TetraSpar floating foundation and a 3.6 MW Siemens Gamesa direct-drive wind turbine, was towed from Denmark and installed at the METCentre test site off the island of Karmøy near Stavanger in late July.
The test site is located 10 miles offshore in water depths of 200 metres.
The floating foundation was developed by Stiesdal Offshore Technology.
TetraSpar Demonstrator ApS is owned by Shell (46.2 per cent), TEPCO Renewable Power (30 per cent), RWE (23.1 per cent), and Stiesdal Offshore Technologies (0.7 per cent).
The defining feature of the TetraSpar foundation concept is said to be the modular “building block” arrangement: each foundation is assembled from tubular steel modules, most of which are common to all configurations.
Another particularity of TetraSpar Demonstrator is its stability provided by a keel deployed 50 metres below the floater.
According to the developers, the TetraSpar foundation is the world’s first industrially manufactured floating offshore foundation and the world’s first spar foundation capable of deployment from an ordinary, shallow-water port.