Sebastien Gueydon News

Floating foundations for wind turbines present some technical advantages, which is encouraging more and more industry players to develop new floaters. Firstly, they can be deployed in deep seas, independent of the soil conditions. Secondly, the installation and heavy maintenance can be done in sheltered areas, so that the whole OFWT can be towed directly to the wind farm’s location by conventional tugs. However, floating foundations also bring new constraints on the wind turbine due to their motions in waves and wind.

Twenty-five international Ph.D. students and young researchers of the international offshore wind industry gathered last week at the floating wind turbine challenge, organized by the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) and International Network on Offshore Renewable Energy (INORE). At this event, seven teams had to develop a floating structure for a 1/100 scale wind turbine in only 24 hours. All participants were provided the same choice of basic materials (PVC pipes, foam blocks, weights, tapes) and had to build the models by themselves. The concept with the lowest construction weight in combination with the lowest acceleration at the nacelle would be declared the winner.