New technology demonstration project for a floating offshore wind turbine foundation with guy wire supported tower

Abstract

With a globally rising demand for energy, floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) open the opportunity to harvest resources further offshore where the wind quality is better and the turbine is out of sight from the consumer. Compared to fixed bottom offshore wind turbines, FOWTs did not reach the same level of standardization yet. But, as the market is aiming towards deeper waters, floating offshore wind parks might become cost competitive with technological advances. Therefore, this research seeks to expand the usage of floating offshore wind technologies by testing a new concept named OPTIFLOW. The OPTIFLOW floating offshore wind turbine concept is a joint project led by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) on a new generation offshore wind power system.