The square ring-shaped floating foundation, the heart of the Floatgen floating wind project, was launched yesterday at the Port of Saint-Nazaire, France.
The floating foundation, known as the Damping Pool, has been developed and patented by Ideol and built by Bouygues Travaux Publics.
The structure will house a 2MW Vestas V80 wind turbine, which will be fixed into position – quayside – on the foundation, before the whole assembly is towed to the SEM-REV installation site. Once on site, the wind turbine will be connected to the anchoring system and the electricity export cable.
France-based offshore services provider Bourbon completed the installation of the mooring system in July 2017.
The Floatgen project is a joint venture between Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Centrale Nantes engineering school, RSK Group, Zabala, the University of Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IWES.
The aim of the project is to show the commercial potential of offshore floating wind turbines, as well as to underscore the industrial potential of this new sector which will lead to job creation on both a local level near the installation sites, where concrete is the main foundation construction material, as well as with the main suppliers.
In a recent interview with the Offshore WIND Expertise Hub team, Ideol’s Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Bruno Geschier said that the company’s experience has shown concrete to be a cheaper option for floating wind, especially due to its durability and minimum O&M needs.
Floatgen is one of the projects in which Ideol is involved in France, while the company has been also engaged in floating wind plans across Europe and Asia Pacific, and is actively eyeing the U.S. market.
Offshore WIND Staff