“targeted innovation” to reduce the cost of offshore wind energy. “This project has shown that, by 2030, offshore wind could be delivering energy at costs similar to the lowest cost forms of low carbon generation.” He said the project had already validated the ETI’s earlier research into offshore wind, which showed that access to high wind areas that are reasonably close to shore will result in very competitive energy costs.” In May, Hexicon in Sweden, which
specialises in the development of floating offshore platforms, announced that it had entered into an agreement with fellow Swedish company SSAB to develop far offshore platforms for
offshore wind. The company said it planned to install a multi-turbine demonstration unit in Swedish waters in 2017.
“This agreement is an important milestone in further development of our patented solutions. Far offshore wind power is more easily scalable and a prime source of renewable energy. Hexicon’s technology offers competitive advantages for the long-term renewable energy market,” said Henrik Baltscheffsky, CEO of Hexicon.
Hexicon and SSAB plan to make use of SSAB’s Weldox steel in the construction of the floating platform. It is understood that the demonstrator
would be built to carry 3–4 6MW size turbines. The plan is to install the unit on the Bleking concession off the east coast of Sweden in water depths of 40–50m. A turbine supplier is expected to be selected later this year. In July, Hexicon completed a rights issue of SEK11.4 million (US$1.6 million), which it said would secure the development of its innovative platforms. “The rights issue allows a faster and more robust implementation of our strategy of developing floating platforms for offshore wind energy,” said the company.
At about the same time, UK-based Mojo Maritime Ltd said it had secured
ECO TLP shows promise
OWJ has obtained preliminary details of another floating offshore wind platform that is under development, the ECO TLP, which its developers claim has received a positive reception from several European turbine manufacturers. Developed by DBD Systems
in the US, it is described as a “reduced cost deepwater tension leg platform” and is suitable for 6–7MW wind turbines. DBD Systems claims that, compared to existing steel or concrete-based methods of building deepwater windfarms, the ECO TLP can provide a 50 per cent reduction in production and installation costs, a lower carbon footprint and a more rapid installation process, resulting in a much faster return on investment for windfarm operators. In the innovative ECO TLP, the primary structural element is concrete, produced using the economical slip-form construction method. The concrete platform and gravity anchor are both economical to build relative to existing steel options, claims DBD Systems, and the production process consumes less energy than steel alternatives, giving it a smaller environmental footprint. The platform and the gravity anchor are constructed on a specially designed construction/ deployment/drydock (CDD) barge. This eliminates the need for expensive onshore manufacturing facilities with their associated
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environmental impact. The design was developed
by Bud Johnson, who runs two shipyards in the US Midwest, in conjunction with Andy Filak, a concrete specialist in California. The design was originally developed for an industry team planning to respond to a request for proposals for a deepwater windfarm off the coast of Hawaii. “We have kept under the radar until recently,” said the company. “We completed our computational and model basin tests this past May, the results of which were favourable.” The company said that, in
addition to a favourable reception from several turbine manufacturers, Scottish Enterprise and a number of large offshore contractors in the UK, Denmark and The Netherlands had noted the benefits of the ECO TLP from an economic and environmental perspective. “Our foundation uses local
materials (concrete/aggregate), no steel reinforcement, local labour and fabrication without the need for a shipyard or large land/shoreline requirements, and a simple slip-form installation process for deepwater locations,” the company told OWJ. “The most recent development
is that we have removed the steel rebar from the foundation, replacing it with a fibre polymer, improving the carbon footprint and eliminating any corrosive materials beneath the water level.
The ECO TLP uses concrete for its primary structural element, which would be constructed on a specially designed barge
Offshore Wind Journal I 3rd Quarter 2014 I 35
The foundation is maintenance free once installed. “One could argue that the US
should bypass shallow water windfarms and go directly to deepwater locations to avoid many of the objections we have been battling here for so long. The technology now exists that would enable this to happen and would help us avoid conflicts along the local shorelines and shipping lanes and allow us to capture higher winds with larger turbines that make the economics work.” Earlier this year, ECO TLP tests at Marin, which were conducted on a 1:50 scale model, indicated lower than predicted wave-induced accelerations and tendon loads.
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