Key research challenges in the development of a Lowerable Offshore Floating Turbine

BlueWind: Innovative løsninger for neste generasjonen av offshore flytende vindparker Offshore vindkraft øker i popularitet på grunn av sitt potensial å utnytte de større vindenergiressurser på åpent hav samt å unngå utfordringene knyttet til visuel og akustisk forstyrrelse ved landbasert vindkraft. Flytende offshore vind møter mer utfordrende forhold ut på havet, som gir høyere kostnader tilknyttet produksjon, installasjon og vedlikehold. Målet til BlueWind er å redusere kostnader for å bygge, installere og vedlikehold i flytende havvind ved å utvikle neste generasjon design for offshore flytende vindparker med turbiner over 12MW. Prosjektet adresseres sentral forskningspørsmål relatert til BlueWinds løsninger. Ansvarlig organisasjon: Kåre Olav Krogenes (kare.olav@bluewind.no) Partnere: NORCE Technology, Marine Energy Test Centre (Metcentre) Prosjektperiode: 2020-2022 Type: Innovasjonsprosjekt for næringslivet Offentlig finansiering: 2,5 mill. kroner Prosjektnummer: 313935

The development and exploitation of offshore wind will increasingly occur in deep water areas far from shore and thus require floating solutions. The main challenge associated with floating offshore wind power are the high costs throughout the value chain. Huge improvement potential is associated with efficient production, assembly, installation, operation and maintenance, in order to take projects to a profitable level. The state of the art for floating wind turbines is that tower and floater form a permanently fixed structure. Installation and maintenance is dependent on the use of large heavy lifting vessels and deep sea port facilities. Bluewind's planned innovation is to incorporate the functionality to raise and lower the tower part of the wind turbine prior to and after installation. This provides the functionality to bring the blades and nacelle down close to the sea surface. Combined with novel, easier and quicker methods that allow for blade installation and removal, maintenance and equipment exchange operations can then be performed without needing the heavy lifting equipment operating at full hub height, and removing the need for a deep wateer port facility. The result is a lower LCOE for the turbine. The R&D investigations conducted by Blue Wind together with NORCE in the TRL1 phase have also identified some unique and novel challenges that need to be resolved: 1. Need for a reliable means to lower and raise the tower 2. A locking mechanism to hold the tower permanently fixed to the floater structure during operation.