Floating offshore wind turbines for shallow waters
conference paper
Bottom mounted Offshore wind turbines seem to have a promising future but they are restricted to shallow waters of
Northern Europe. Many projects are planned or are in the phase of construction on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
All projects that are planned have a water depth up to approximately 25 m.
The project reported in this paper investigated the technical and economical feasibility of floating wind energy
systems in deeper waters, approximately 50 m and deeper. It is assumed that at a certain water depth floating wind
turbines will have better economics than bottom mounted wind turbines.
Floating wind energy systems seem to have some advantages over bottom mounted wind energy systems, like e.g.
• lower cost installation (in a harbour);
• lower maintenance cost;
• lower removal cost.
But floating wind energy systems have their own technical challenges, like
• dynamic interactions between floater and wind turbine;
• floater conceptual design including mooring system, taking into account restriction w.r.t. stability of floater and
wind turbine, minimizing wave induced motion, water depth, etc.
Northern Europe. Many projects are planned or are in the phase of construction on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
All projects that are planned have a water depth up to approximately 25 m.
The project reported in this paper investigated the technical and economical feasibility of floating wind energy
systems in deeper waters, approximately 50 m and deeper. It is assumed that at a certain water depth floating wind
turbines will have better economics than bottom mounted wind turbines.
Floating wind energy systems seem to have some advantages over bottom mounted wind energy systems, like e.g.
• lower cost installation (in a harbour);
• lower maintenance cost;
• lower removal cost.
But floating wind energy systems have their own technical challenges, like
• dynamic interactions between floater and wind turbine;
• floater conceptual design including mooring system, taking into account restriction w.r.t. stability of floater and
wind turbine, minimizing wave induced motion, water depth, etc.
TNO Identifier
330443
Source title
European Wind Energy Conference, EWEC, Madrid, Spain, 16-19 June
Pages
1-8
Files
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