Final Windfloat Atlantic Floating Wind Turbine Heads Offshore
The third - and final - floating wind turbine has been towed offshore as part of the Windfloat Atlantic project, located 20 km from Viana do Castelo on the Portuguese coast. The project, dubbed the first floating offshore wind farm in continental Europe, is operated by the Windplus consortium, consisting of EDP Renováveis (54.4%), Engie (25%), Repsol (19.4%) and Principle Power Inc. (1.2%). Bourbon Subsea Services is responsible for the towing and the connection of the 8.4 MW floating wind turbine supplied by MHI Vestas.With the support of three vessels (the Bourbon Orca AHTS…
WindFloat: Portugal’s First Offshore Wind Turbine
Classification society ABS has provided certification services for the design, fabrication and installation for the first WindFloat facility. The WindFloat Aguçadoura unit is a 2 MW floating wind turbine moored in slightly less than 50 m water depth 4 km offshore the northern Portuguese coast. The WindFloat project is the first offshore wind deployment in the world that did not require heavy lift equipment offshore. Final assembly and pre-commissioning took place in a controlled shoreside environment. This installation also is the first deployment of a semisubmersible structure supporting a commercial size wind turbine. ABS design review…
Semi-submersible Wind Turbine Project Seeks EU Funding
According to a 'Recharge' report, the trial-run WindFloat 1 (WF1) has flowed more than 1.7GWh of energy since being moored in the Atlantic in 43 metres of water, 5km off Aguçadoura, near Póvoa de Varzim, northern Portugal, last autumn. The 1,200-tonne floating concept, fitted with a single Vestas V80-2.0MW turbine, rode out storms that buffeted it with gale-force winds and waves of up to 15 metres during its first winter offshore. The €20m ($25m) WF1 was built by the WindPlus joint venture, which counts EDP , Principle Power , Vestas , Portuguese shipbuilder A Silva Matos (ASM), venture capitalist InovCapital and Spain’s Repsol among its shareholders. The floater is seen as a game-changer both in terms of technology and supply-chain management.
First Portuguese Offshore Wind Turbine
Portugal's first offshore wind turbine inaugurated by Energias de Portugal, Repsol, Principle Power, A. The turbine is installed on an innovative floating foundation called the WindFloat. In addition to being the first offshore wind turbine in Portugal, this is the first offshore wind turbine to be installed without the use of any heavy lift vessels or piling equipment at sea. All final assembly, installation and pre-commissioning of the turbine and substructure took place on land in a controlled environment. The complete system was then wet-towed offshore using simple tug vessels. The WindFloat is equipped with a Vestas v80 2.0MW turbine capable of producing enough electricity for 1,300 households.
