floating offshore wind
funding to develop, build and test a low motion floating platform specifically for light detection and ranging (lidar) measurement campaigns on offshore windfarms. Concept development and tank testing of the platform undertaken during 2013 resulted in a solid design, which the company claims is capable of withstanding the most challenging offshore conditions. The Mojo Maritime platform is designed as a semi-submersible with an adjustable draught, thereby simplifying installation compared with spar buoy designs, whilst improving low motion characteristics. Deployment of the platform and motion testing is planned at the Falmouth Bay test site (FABTest) in the autumn of 2014. Allowing for possible design optimisation, the platform is expected to be deployed early in 2015 to carry out lidar validation against a fixed meteorological (met) mast. In order to accelerate the pace of
the project and ensure that the floating
platform is ready for commercialisation in late 2015, Mojo Maritime has been awarded £328,000 of European support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Grant for Business Investment (GBI) scheme, based on a total project value of £728,000. Richard Parkinson, managing
director of Mojo Maritime, said, “We are pleased that our efforts to drive the marine renewable energy industry forward have been recognised by the GBI. This funding allows us to cover a substantial part of our development costs and accelerates the development of our project.”
As Mr Parkinson noted, as offshore wind farms move further offshore, met masts required to measure the potential of a site’s resources become increasingly expensive to design, build and install, thereby driving up total project costs and increasing early project risk. Floating platforms fitted with lidar measurement equipment offer significant cost reductions in terms of
Glosten Associates believes that a platform such as PelaStar could help reduce the cost of offshore wind energy to as little as £85 per MWh
Henrik Baltscheffsky: “agreement with SSAB is an important milestone”
capital and operational expenditure. Being secured by moorings rather than seabed fixings, the platform has minimal environmental impact and can be relocated using inexpensive assets. In April 2014, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern confirmed that it had awarded a grant of €5 million to Gicon for the fabrication, installation and testing of the company’s SOF floating offshore wind platform. SOF stands for schwimmendes offshore fundament (floating offshore foundation). Fabrication of a 1:1 demonstration unit was due to get underway at Volkswerft shipyard in Stralsund, Germany, early in 2014. The design of the SOF has been optimised by Gicon in recent months, leading to a 50 per cent weight reduction compared with earlier versions of the design. Deployment is planned for mid-2015 in the vicinity of the Baltic I offshore windfarm. Development of the SOF was carried out in collaboration with several partners, including the Technical University of Freiberg, University of Rostock and Jähnig GmbH. In February 2012, an important milestone in the development of SOF was completed when model tests using a 1:25 unit were undertaken at the Hamburg Ship Model Basin. The tests demonstrated the functionality of the floating platform. In June 2013, additional tests were carried out at Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (Marin).
The model tests confirmed the
suitability of the structure for use as a platform for an offshore wind turbine and demonstrated that it was stable under wind and wave loads. In keeping with other companies working on floating platforms, Gicon believes that its unit will be more cost- effective than fixed foundations. It will also be easier to build, transport and install and will not require the use of specialist installation vessels. OWJ
36 I Offshore Wind Journal I 3rd Quarter 2014
www.owjonline.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70