Begins demonstrative floating offshore wind project to prove its technology commercial capabilities.

2023 brings in a new floating wind turbine demo that will prove its commercial capabilities and strengthen the supply chain of Spain & Portugal.

The opportunity ahead is huge. In 2050, wind will be the source of approximately half of Europe’s electricity, with a 25x increase in offshore wind compared to the 12GW currently installed. Around one-third (100-150GW) is estimated to be floating wind, while this technology is still in its early stages of development; just a few MW has been installed word wide. A promising future for floating technologies capable of economically matching bottom fixed structures and surpassing the current 60 meters water depth limit.

The key to achieve this target is to introduce innovations that decrease the cost and increase the manufacturability of key components, such as the floating platform and the dynamic cables, as well as optimized: installation, operation and maintenance (O&M).

The barriers are also huge, new players and new collaborations are required to deliver a successful FOWT design for serial production. The design requires a compromise between, component dimensions and weight, assembly process and maintenance. Examples of this collaboration include making smaller building blocks in length, volumes and weight for efficient handling of shipyards and ports. For example, shipyards must have the capability of building platforms with long beams, in some cases above 100mtr. Manufacturing and storage times must also be considered, both, limiting the amount of units that can be in production at a time. Harbours are also key players on the technology development. Ports have limited wet storage, solutions must avoid blocking the port with tens of ultra-large platforms waiting for deployment at sea. Harbour draft is also a key factor since many European ports have to swallow waters for deployment.

Failing to integrate the constrains into the designs means that European supply chain will not be able to meet the forecast demand and increases the risk of taking production out of Europe.

This project target these challenges and others as relevant, such as, components durability up to 50 years, design scalability from 10MW to 30MW, maintenance personnel safety or efficiency of operations at sea. The solution called CT-Bos is a floating Tension Leg Platform (TLP) concept that originates from the knowledge of the naval, the civil construction and the Oil & Gas sectors. The solution has been developed by Bluenewables and Acciona. It consists of a floating concrete platform and 4 tension “legs” anchored in the seabed.

The several innovations embodied in the demonstration will be unveiled along the project. All key components are affected by changes to improve the cost and manufacturability. We are very proud in CENER of being part of this collaboration and all benefits that will bring to the industry.

BlueNewables leads the nine companies’ consortium that will carry out the project: Acciona Energía, Acciona Construction, Hellenic Cables, GMC, Wavec, Avos, ACSM and CENER.

During the project, CENER will provide the team project, among other things, digital twin able to correctly integrate all physical effects, aerodynamics, turbine, platform, mooring and hydrodynamics, into the design and O&M. CENER will develop further its digital platform to support operations, providing insights to feed maintenance systems. State of the art technology recently developed for floating wind and presented in international congress and science papers will be used in the project.

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them”