Development of floating wind energy converter for deep water.

SWAY as propose a 3year R&D project to develop its patented floating wind turbine technology into a prototype design. The SWAY system consist of a floating tower fixed to the seabed with a tension/torsion leg, in order to accomodate heeling of the tower, the rotor is mounted downwind. The SWAY system gives access to large wind resources at the same cost as shallow water windfarms. Since the winds at far offshore sites are stronger such as offshore Norway and Japan the production costs are substantially lo wer than any other renewable energy sources. For a 200MW wind farm 50Km offshore the initial production cost estimate is 29 øre/kWh including grid connection and annual opex of 1.5MNOK per turbine. The current status of the project is that the design is q ualified at a conceptual level. This has been attained through dynamic analysis of the system with offshore structural design tools. The principal aim of the R&D project will be to remove the main techncial uncertainties to find if it can be justified to invest 100MNOK in a 5MW prototype. The tasks will be focused on development of an improved design tool, feasibility study of the downwind turbine, development and testing of critical components to arrive at a prototype design. If this application is grant ed by NFR, the project will have strong backing in the industry with Statkraft and Shell as main sponsors, Statnett and Inocean will also contribute financially to the project. Since most of the tasks are dependent upon application of new techniques or kn owledge the project will be executed in cooperation with the main reasearch institutions involved in R&D on wind energy in Norway. The total budget of the project is 8.7MNOK and SWAY as will apply for 4MNOK from NFR, the remaining will be financed by the industry.