Project to Advance Floating Wind Station-Keeping Technology Kicks Off

February 19, 2024, by Adnan Memija

A business and academic consortium has kicked off collaboration on the future of floating offshore wind.

The TAILWIND project, launched in January 2024, will deliver advanced station-keeping technologies, designed to maintain the position of floating offshore wind farms, according to NKT, which recently joined the consortium.

NKT said that the integration of a dynamic cable system with novel mooring technologies and platform designs developed within TAILWIND will be key.

“Advancing the development of floating offshore wind is a very important next step in the green transition. It will require technological advancements from all stakeholders, including power cables. We believe our dynamic cables will play an important role here and look forward to them integrating into the other new technologies that are being developed for floating wind in this project,” said Anders Jensen, CTO, NKT.

The competence and know-how of NKT’s Simulation Services department will play a major role in the execution of simulations and mechanical analyses of dynamic cables, the company said.

The TAILWIND project is said to contribute to the goals set by the “REPowerEU” Plan and the “Fit for 55” package, aiming to accelerate the roll-out of renewables. The project is funded by the EU’s Horizon programme.

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The TAILWIND consortium is composed of NGI – Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, TU Delft – Geotechnical Engineering Section (Netherlands), Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (Denmark), SINTEF Ocean AS (Norway), Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation (Spain), Nautilus Floating Solutions (Spain), Bekaert Wire Rope Industry NV (Belgium), Subsea 7 Norway AS (Norway), Fondazione ICONS (Italy), Clarke Modet Y Compania S.L. (Spain), NKT Cables Group A/S (Denmark), Bridon International LTD (UK), University of Southampton (UK).

“We are proud to kick off this important project with a world-leading consortium bringing industry and research together to develop more sustainable and cost-effective solutions for mooring floating wind turbines,” said Thomas Langford, Director Offshore Energy at NGI – Norwegian Geotechnical Institute.