Hyundai Heavy’s Hi-Float Floating Wind Foundation Gets Bureau Veritas Nod

Bureau Veritas has delivered an Approval in Principle (AiP) to South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for its design and development of the Hi-Float floating offshore wind turbine foundation.

Hi-Float is designed to support a 10 MW wind turbine with proven semi-submersible and mooring technology, Bureau Veritas said.

A passive ballast system is said to ensure that risk is kept to a minimum during offshore operations. The good performance of Hi-Float in offshore environment was verified through numerical analysis and wave basin model testing.

”Bureau Veritas is proud of the successful completion of this AiP with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd for the design of its “Hi-Float” floating offshore wind turbine foundation,” Alex Gregg-Smith, Executive Vice President for Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, said.

”This announcement demonstrates the importance of this technology, which will enable the development of future clean energy with zero carbon emissions, while managing risks of floating offshore wind farm development with efficient and safe operation of large scale wind turbines. We are also confident that our cooperation on technology development will lead to further successes to both HHI and BV within the developing renewable energy and floating offshore wind technology sectors, which will play a major role in the fight against climate change.”

The certificate was delivered to Seon Mook Lim, Executive Vice President of HHI, by Christophe Capitant, Chief Country Executive of BV Korea, at a ceremony hosted by HHI Offshore & Industrial Division in Ulsan, South Korea.

”Obtaining the AiP for these innovative floating offshore wind turbine foundations is a meaningful technological milestone that will enable our solutions to contribute to the global decarbonisation effort,” Seon Mook Lim said.

”In addition, Hi-Float provides higher productivity considering the construction yard infrastructure and efficiency of marine operations. These projects are part of our continuous endeavors and commitment to a sustainable future that is aligned with HHI Group’s ESG vision, “Beyond Blue Forward to Green”. We also promise that HHI Group will encourage new value creation to lead the market, responding to customers’ desire for the achievement of net zero emissions.”

While wind turbine technologies have now had time to mature, the floating foundations that provide the base for floating offshore wind turbines are still going through stages of development, Bureau Veritas said. Coupling wind turbines’ aerodynamic loads with floaters’ hydrodynamic ocean loads also represents a complex challenge. To address this, it is not only necessary to apply lessons learned from the offshore wind and oil and gas sectors, but also to work with partners who can provide a holistic view of a floating offshore wind technology and project, the certification society said.