Page 63: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2018)

GE is developing a 12 MW capacity Haliade-X turbine

Ideol Offshore & STX Europe Offshore Energy: Damping

Pool concept will be used for these substations

Principle Power

The technologies being developed to enable ? oating offshore wind farms have generated a lot of buzz, and for good reason.

High-tech ? oating structures unlock the potential for clean wind energy in waters – especially deep waters – such as off the

U.S. West Coast and in parts of Asia where traditional ? xed- foundations cannot be supported.

Among the leaders in this space is California-based Principle

Power and its patented triangular shaped ? oating wind turbine foundation WindFloat. The semi-submersible three-column off- shore platform features water entrapment plates that, through damping effects, reduce motion due to waves. Work to build the ? oating base and install a turbine atop one of its columns is completed entirely onshore before the full assembly is towed to its ? nal location offshore, signi? cantly reducing installation costs. The WindFloat is also “turbine agnostic”, meaning any conventional offshore wind turbine can be installed atop one of its columns.

Working with a consortium of partners, Principle Power de- ployed a full-scale 2MW WindFloat protype off the coast of

Portugal in 2011, and in the time since has taken the technology through its paces to prove its readiness for commercialization.

Over a ? ve-year operation period, more than 17 GWh of elec- tricity was produced and delivered to the local grid by subsea cable before the prototype was decommissioned in 2016.

(Photo: Ideol Offshore) Images: GE www.marinetechnologynews.com

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