Norwegian company Entrion Wind has been issued a US patent for its Fully Restrained Platform (FRP) monopile, which combines fixed and floating platform technologies. The technology can extend the water depths for monopile foundations to up to 100 metres, according to the company.
Entrion Wind plans to commercially roll out the FRP monopile in 2027.
The patent in the US, granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office on 29 October, is the first of six the company filed for.
“This patent is a major achievement for Entrion Wind”, said Li Lee , VP and Co-Founder of Entrion Wind. “Our FRP monopile is designed to deliver exceptional performance in water depths that were previously inaccessible to monopile technology. This innovation will help drive down costs and enable the growth of offshore wind energy in deeper waters.”
According to Entrion, the FRP design integrates proven technologies with the company’s proprietary Top Mooring Assembly (TMA) system which improves the stability of the monopile by increasing stiffness without impacting installation or operational efficiency.
Entrion Wind conducted a proof of concept study for the FRP monopile in 2020 and in 2021 teamed up with Acteon to conduct a feasibility study for the technology in the US.
In 2022, a test project for the fully restrained platform (FRP) kicked off in Kristiansand, Norway, and was joined by Techano and EEW .
Last year, Sif also joined the demonstration project and DNV awarded Entrion Wind with a Statement of Feasibility for the FRP monopile. In 2023, Entrion Wind also revealed it was awarded a project to evaluate the feasibility of the FRP offshore wind foundation technology by a ScotWind developer .
In July this year, the company and the offshore wind developer Simply Blue Group announced they would jointly explore the feasibility of the Fully Restrained Platform monopile by examining the technical and economic viability of FRP technology in 60-to-80-metre waters and comparing it with other foundation alternatives.
Announcing the award of the patent in the US, Entrion Wind said testing the viability of the FRP monopile through feasibility studies and demonstration projects continues.