Stackable Floating Wind Platform Gets DNV Approval

June 9, 2023, by Adnan Memija

DNV has awarded Bassoe Technology an Approval in Principle (AiP) for a 17 MW D-Floater floating wind foundation, designed to withstand extreme 50-year typhoon conditions in the South China Sea.

The AiP verifies that the design is feasible for the intended application, and, in principle, complies with the applicable requirements in accordance with DNV rules and standards.

The assessment has been carried out towards the following class notations: ✠OI Column-stabilised Floating offshore wind turbine installation, POSMOOR, Recyclable, BIS.

“Floating offshore wind is a highly innovative sector that is developing rapidly and is vital to the energy transition. But to develop and rollout the required technologies and infrastructure we need to have a foundation of trust, built upon rigorous and evolving technical standards,” said Torgeir Sterri, Director of Offshore Classification at DNV.

The D-Floater is a three-column, semi-submersible unit with a Delta-shaped pontoon configuration that allows the stacking of foundations inside each other, facilitating transport of multiple completed foundations on a single, heavy-lift transport vessel and efficient storage in the marshalling port.

With a tow-out draft of less than ten metres with the turbine installed, the design is intended to allow flexibility in assembly port selection and to allow quayside installation of the tower and turbine closer to the offshore wind farm, said Bassoe Technology, which is owned by China’s CIMC Offshore.

“At CIMC Raffles, we will have the ability to deliver more than 50 D-Floaters per year and with planned expansion of the yard facilities we are able to deliver more than 100 D-Floaters per year. With this fabrication capacity and the D-Floater’s global supply advantages, we are ready to support our clients in their future large scale floating wind developments,” said Li MingGao, Vice President of CIMC Raffles and Chairman of the Board of Bassoe Technology.

In January, the company received AiP for the D-Floater foundation design from ABS, who said that the technology is capable of carrying 15 MW turbines in some of the harshest environmental conditions.