Deep sea offshore wind turbine technology

This project will combine wind technology know-how with offshore and energy industry experience to enhance development of deep sea (+30 m) offshore wind farms. The overall objective is to advance Norwegian development within this field, and pin-point tech nical solutions that ensure cost-efficiency of deep sea offshore wind farms. The project comprises interdisciplinary tasks that are required for successful development of Norwegian deep sea offshore wind farms. The main goals are: Task 1: Progress of d esign tools (analytics, numerical methods and experiments) for the (structural, control, concurrent engineering) design of offshore wind energy concepts. Task 2: Development of advanced rotor aerodynamic solutions enhancing performance and lifetime of la rge offshore blades. Task 3: Provide solutions for cost effective grid connection and system integration of large deep sea offshore wind farms. Offshore wind farms have so far been installed at shallow waters (-30 m) using gravity base structures or mon o-piles. Sizes range up to 160 MW (Horns Rev), though significantly lager wind farms are planned. All are relatively close to shore and connected by AC. However, the potential at deeper water is huge provided that costs can be reduced to a competitive lev el. The relevant technologies for foundation appear to be tripod or jacket support structures (-70 m) and floating concepts for greater depths. Deep sea offshore wind farms are expected to be large, ~1000 MW and located +50 km from shore. This requires as sessment of new systems for connection, e.g. HVDC and possibly hooked to sub-sea transnational connections or electrification of oil-rigs. The project is targeted towards industrial value creation. The project is timely since the international developmen t is at its very beginning and Norwegian offshore and energy industry have a competitive advantage.