The European FLOTANT project, which aims to develop a low-cost floating wind technology for 10+ MW wind turbines, has concluded the validation model tests in the offshore basin of the Dutch MARIN research institute.
PLOCAN, the project coordinator, has put to test a 1/50 scale prototype, months of design, adjustments and simulations. The tests have simulated waves over 15 metres and winds of up to 27 metres per second, which simulated the extreme weather conditions of the two sites selected to house the FLOTANT technology: the South Coast of Gran Canaria in Spain and West of Barra in Scotland.
The FLOTANT platform, which aims at floating wind installations in water depths of between 100 and 600 metres, is based on a novel hybrid concrete-plastic floating substructure.
It features new composites, multistranded tethers and polymer springs, lightweight power cables, and other innovations with a goal of achieving an expected levelised cost of energy (LCoE) for floating wind in the range of EUR 85-95 per MWh.