WindFloat floating wind – US DoE supports planned wind farm deployment offshore Oregon coast

WindFloat Pacific Project receives significant support from U.S. Department of Energy.

The plan is for five WindFloat 6 MW floating wind turbines to be deployed offshore the Oregon coast

Principle Power, Inc. (Principle Power) is pleased to announce The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today selected the WindFloat Pacific project for up to $47 million in matching grant funding to accelerate development of the 30-megawatt floating offshore wind farm proposed for the deep waters off Coos Bay, Oregon. […]

• Principle Power – News and Press – Press Releases
• marineenergysystems

Offshore wind in France?

Something seems to be moving in the French offshore wind sector

In their press release, the FEE – the French wind energy trade organization – indicates the somewhat ambitiously sounding objectives of 15 GW and 6GW of capacity installed for fixed and floating wind respectively by 2030.

References:

• FEE: Pays de la Loire : France Énergie Éolienne identifie des zones favorables à l’éolien posé et flottant
• Wind Power Offshore

German offshore power generation capacity expected to increase by 1.5 GW in 2014

A report issued by the offshore wind energy foundation on behalf of  the German Federal Ministry for the Environment indicates in about 1.5 Gigawatts the offshore power generation capacity expected to be commissioned in 2014. If confirmed, Germany would overtake both Belgium and Denmark to become the second country for installed offshore wind capacity after the UK.

The report also includes clear indications of ambitious development plans to 2020 and beyond.

References:

• Offshore-windenergie.net factsheet3-14
• Bloomberg news – Germany to Expand Offshore Wind-Power Capacity Fourfold in 2014
• EWEA: The European offshore wind industry – key trends and statistics 2013

Alstom to launch floating turbine research centre | Windpower Offshore

Alstom invests in floating wind R&D showing they expect it to play a significant part in the offshore wind sector of the future

Alstom to launch floating turbine research centre | Windpower Offshore

Principle Power Inc. moves one step closer to deploying 30MW floating wind farm in the USA

Further the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approval, Principle Power can now submit a formal plan for the deployment of 5x 6MW WindFloat floating wind turbines off the Oregon coast (Coos Bay)

A 2MW WindFloat prototype unit has been in operation offshore of the Portuguese coast since late 2011

References:

• BOEM Press Release
• Principle Power Inc.
• Principle Power – Lease request
• News on WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project

GICON confirms plans for full scale prototype manufacturing of their SOF floating foundations for wind turbines

The German Engineering and Consulting company GICON GmbH has been leading a project aimed at developing a new floating TLP foundation design for wind turbines: The GICON® SOF (Schwimmendes Offshore Fundament).

Important milestones were achieved in 2013 with more tow, wave and wind tank tests carried out on both 1:25 and 1:37 scale models as well as a cooperation agreement signed with Fraunhofer IWES, the applied research and development Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology.

GICON indicate they are still on schedule with their plans to produce a full scale prototype in 2014 to be deployed off the north Germany coast, albeit so far we could not find any indication of the site.

Update 29/04/2014:

German floating wind turbine designer Gicon has pocketed over €5m ($6.9m) from the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to push ahead with a full-scale pilot project in the Baltic Sea.

Fabrication of the company’s flagship SOF unit, a 3MW turbine mounted on a distinctive tension leg platform based around a latticework of braces and flotation cylinders, is set to begin in July at at the Volkswerft shipyard in Stralsund.

Darius Snieckus rechargenews.com

References:

• GICON – Floating Offshore Foundations (with clips of tank tests at HSVA and MARIN)
• Tow tank tests TU Berlin – ESG
• WindPowerOffshore – Fixed-foundation performance on a floating platform
• WindPowerOffshore – GICON floating foundation granted US patent
• GICON and Fraunhofer IWES

Fukushima FORWARD consortium deploys 2 MW floating wind turbine

As we mentioned before, floating wind development activities in Japan have significantly accelerated post Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Farm Demonstration Project (FORWARD) Japanese consortium has achieved a major milestone with the deployment of a 2 MW (by Hitachi) downwind type wind turbine mounted on semi-submersible foundations (by Matsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co.).

 

The deployment of the floating substation is scheduled for next month, while export cable (by Furukawa Electrics Co.) laying is in progress.

So far, it looks like Project Phase 1 is developing as scheduled. Given the early stages of development and significant uncertainties, this is a great achievement for the consortium. And a very positive news for the whole sector.

Ref:

Marubeni Corporation

NTDTV.org

Guardian online

VolturnUS (1:8 scale) floating wind launched in Maine, USA

A key step in US offshore wind development:

VolturnUS 1:8, the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine to be deployed off the coast of North America, was launched in Brewer May 31 by the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center and its partners.

Ref:

• The University of Maine – UMaine News – Launch of VolturnUS 1:8
• RENews
• DeepCwind Consortium

News on WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project

Principle Power, was awarded a Department of Energy grant worth $4M and up to $47M in total funding, to support its WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project.

Project: 30MW floating offshore wind farm, planned to be located approximately 25 kilometres west of Oregon’s Port of Coos Bay. It should be noted that a WindFloat system prototype was deployed off the coast of Portugal in October 2011

Project partners include: MacArtney Underwater Technology, Siemens Wind Power, Houston Offshore Engineering, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, RPS Evan Hamilton, Forristal Ocean Engineering, the American Bureau of Shipping and
Det Norske Veritas.

Ref: 

• MacArtney named partner in major Pacific WindFloat project | MacArtney
• First WindFloat platform deployed with turbine off Portugal

Hitachi Zosen, Statoil Work on Floating Offshore Wind Technology – Bloomberg

More on floating wind plans in Japan in this extract from an article on Bloomberg site

By Chisaki Watanabe – Mar 5, 2013 2:35 AM GMT+0100

Hitachi Zosen Corp. (7004), an industrial machinery maker, wants to use its partnership with Statoil ASA (STL)to bring technology for floating offshore wind turbines to the Japanese market more quickly.

Hitachi Zosen, which started as a shipyard in 1881, in November signed a technical cooperation agreement with Statoil,Norway’s oil and gas producer. Statoil’s “Hywind” project features the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine.

“We are looking at how we can bring technology cultivated in Norway to Japan,” Takashi Fujita, general manager of Hitachi Zosen’s strategic planning department, said in an interview in Tokyo. […]

Hitachi Zosen plans to start with turbines fixed to the seabed and expand to floating windmills in offshore wind, Fujita said. The company, which spun off its shipbuilding business in 2002, first will focus on the Japanese market and expand to Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia.

Fujita said Statoil is providing Hitachi Zosen with technology that allow for stable power generation from turbines in the ocean, declining to elaborate citing confidentiality.

Hitachi Zosen, Statoil Work on Floating Offshore Wind Technology – Bloomberg