Tecnalia is also a partner in the SUPRAPOWER 10MW superconducting generator project
for use in water depths in excess of 60m and that the IH Cantabria’s facilities in Santander are ideal for testing renewable infrastructure under extreme offshore conditions, being able to simulate simultaneously the effect of wind, waves and currents. In the past, the consortium has spoken of the platform being suitable for water depths ranging from 50–250m. The 5MW size platform has a column diameter of 9.5m with the columns set 33m apart from one another. The semi- submersible has an overall depth of 30m and operational draught of 19.8m with a transit draught of 5.75m and hub height above sea level of 89m. It has a displacement of around 7,000 tonnes. Tecnalia, along with Acciona
Windpower/Acciona Energy in Spain, is also heavily involved in another important research and development project. SUPRAPOWER (SUPerconducting, Reliable, lightweight, And more POWERful offshore wind turbine) is an EU FP7-funded project focused on the development of a compact superconductor-based generator for offshore wind applications. The aim of the project is to develop a lightweight, robust and reliable 10MW class offshore wind turbine based on a superconducting generator. The reasoning behind the focus on
a superconducting generator is that existing types of geared and direct- drive generators are difficult to scale up in size because their size and weight drives up the cost of fixed and floating foundations as well as operating and maintenance costs. New solutions to provide better power scalability, weight reduction and reliability are needed. The
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SUPRAPOWER consortium believes that superconductivity may be one of a very few technologies capable of combining the features that would allow scaling up to 10MW and beyond – even to turbines in the 15-20MW class – primarily through a radical reduction of head mass. The SUPRAPOWER project got under way in 2012 and is due to be completed at the end of 2016. As Ainhoa Pujana, a R&D engineer at Tecnalia explained, the consortium is focussing on the development of a 10MW class superconducting generator, using a patented generator concept that the company has developed. “We believe that this type of generator overcomes many of the challenges faced by other superconducting concepts,” she explained. “The main advantages is a reduction of turbine head mass of approximately 30 per cent with respect to conventional generators, a modular
cryogen-free cooling system with a reduced maintenance regime, and the absence of rare earth materials which are expensive and for which supply problems have been experienced in the past.” Other projects are developing superconducting generators for wind turbines, but Ms Pujana and her colleagues believe that these approaches will be less attractive from the cost point of view due to the high price of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials. Until now, superconducting rotating machines have required cooling with circulating cryogenic liquids, an option that is less suitable for offshore applications because of cost and reliability concerns, so the partners in SUPRAPOWER are developing a cryogen-free system that is adaptable to the needs of wind turbine generators. This generator is a direct drive AC
Testing of the Nautilus platform got underway at IH Cantabria in July
synchronous machine, with field coils based on the use of magnesium biboride (MgB2) superconducting wire. “MgB2 wire is very competitive from a cost point of view, and is several times less expensive than other HTS wires,” she explained, noting that MgB2 wire in the form of sandwich tape with outer Cu stabilization layer has been developed for the generator, the concept for which will be validated using a scale machine in the 500kW range. The coils are produced from a stack of nine MgB2 racetrack coils wound in the form of ‘double pancakes.’ To-date, the first full scale MgB2 coil has been constructed, with tests due to begin in September 2014. Detailed design of the 500kW machine has also been completed. OWJ
Offshore Wind Journal I 3rd Quarter 2014 I 33
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