Posters

Abstract

A significant shift is taking place in the energy transition as global decarbonization goals accelerate. With the availability of suitable land quickly being exhausted, developers are setting their sights on the massive, untapped offshore wind power market. Given the projected growth for floating offshore wind, it's no wonder this is the next phase of wind power. Installed capacity is expected to reach approximately 250 GW by 2050. More than 800 GW of wind power capacity is already installed, and nearly 500 GW of additional wind capacity is expected through 2025. The average size of individual offshore wind turbines is expected to grow to an output capacity of 15-20 MW by 2030. The only thing slowing down the expansion of offshore wind is the challenges associated with placing larger wind turbines farther out at sea. Deploying equipment and the personnel needed to connect wind farms to the grid from deeper waters can be cost-prohibitive and transporting and assembling larger turbines in unstable waters can be difficult due to the weight and bulk of traditional offshore platforms. Rapid innovation is required to create an affordable floating offshore wind platform that achieves the required pitch and buoyancy in unsteady waters without disrupting fragile marine environments. This presentation will explore the challenges offshore wind developers are facing and will highlight engineering solutions that are designed to overcome these challenges. In particular, the presentation will share how a team of engineers with Gazelle Wind Power is combining the best features of tension-leg and semi-submersible platforms, and eliminating their drawbacks, to enable faster installations, ease of transport, and ease of manufacturing, all while demonstrating a significant reduction in both LCOE and capital expenditure (CAPEX).