POWER September 2020 - 32

TOP PLANT
Floating Platforms Are an
Offshore Wind Gamechanger
Courtesy: Principle Power Inc.
WindFloat Atlantic consists of three 8.4-MW wind turbines installed about 20
kilometers off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Although its size is modest
compared to other operating offshore wind farms, what makes the project special
is its floating platforms. The design allows wind turbines to be constructed in
previously inaccessible waters with depths of more than 100 meters.
Aaron Larson
O
ffshore wind farms are not a new
thing. The first offshore wind farm,
known as Vindeby, was constructed
in 1991 in southeast Denmark near
Lolland. It was a demonstration project
to prove whether it was possible to generate
wind power offshore. Spoiler alert:
it is possible.
The Vindeby farm had 11 wind turbines
with a total capacity of 5 MW and was
constructed in water from 2 meters (m)
to 5 m deep. Vindeby operated successfully
for more than 25 years before being
completely dismantled in 2017. Despite
its small size, the Vindeby wind farm
paved the way for offshore wind energy
development. By the end of 2019, 29.1
GW of offshore wind capacity was installed
worldwide, according to the Global
Wind Energy Council. The International
Renewable Energy Agency has predicted
offshore wind capacity will reach 228
GW by 2030, and will be near 1,000 GW
by 2050.
Wind turbines have come a long way
since Vindeby was commissioned. On
May 19, Siemens Gamesa Renewable
Energy (SGRE) launched a 14-MW offshore
direct-drive turbine with a 222-meter
rotor. The company claims output for
that turbine could reach up to 15 MW, using
SGRE's Power Boost function. Other
wind turbine suppliers aren't far behind.
32
GE Renewable Energy began generating
power from a 12-MW Haliade-X prototype
at a site in Rotterdam, Netherlands, last
November. MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, a
joint venture between Vestas Wind Systems
A/S (50%) and Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries (50%), claims its V164-10.0
MW unit was the world's first commercial
double-digit offshore wind turbine.
Offshore wind offers several advantages
over land-based designs. Foremost
among them are that offshore wind
resources are more abundant, stronger,
and blow more consistently than landbased
wind resources. Many offshore
wind turbines can't be seen from land,
so people who feel wind turbines are an
eyesore are less apt to object to their installation.
Furthermore, offshore turbines
don't tie up land that could otherwise be
used for farming or other purposes. Marine
ecosystems can even benefit from
the structures, as they protect sea life by
restricting access to certain waters and
increasing artificial habitats.
Fixed-foundation offshore wind turbines
are not routinely installed in waters
deeper than about 50 m, but that is
no longer a major stumbling block for future
development. New floating designs
have changed the landscape (or perhaps
seascape is a better term) and opened
up a whole new world of opportunity for
the industry.
www.powermag.com
WindFloat Atlantic Commissioned
On July 27, Windplus-a consortium of
EDP Renewables (54.4%), Engie (25%),
Repsol (19.4%), and Principle Power Inc.
(1.2%)-announced that WindFloat Atlantic
was fully operational and supplying
clean energy to Portugal's electrical
grid. WindFloat Atlantic consists of three
8.4-MW MHI Vestas wind turbines providing
a total capacity of about 25 MW.
The turbines are the world's largest ever
installed on a floating platform. To recognize
this groundbreaking (or perhaps
water-breaking is a better term) achievement,
POWER has bestowed upon the
project a Top Plant award in the Renewables
category and congratulates all parties
involved in its successful completion
on a job well-done.
EDP Renewables said the WindFloat
Atlantic project built on the success of the
WindFloat1 prototype, which operated between
2011 and 2016. The 2-MW prototype
successfully generated energy uninterruptedly
for five years, according to the company,
surviving extreme weather conditions
completely unscathed, including waves up
to 17 m and winds as high as 60 knots.
One of the three WindFloat Atlantic
platforms was built at the Avilés and Ferrol
shipyards in Spain (Figure 1), while
the other two were manufactured at
the Setúbal shipyards in Portugal. The
platforms have a height of 30 m and a
POWER | September 2020
http://www.powermag.com
POWER September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER September 2020
