Page 62: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2018)

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Editor’s ChoiceEditor’s Choice

Subsea’s Future is

Blowin’ in the Wind

Offshore wind is hot, with the potential to be a signi? cant area of growth for the global maritime, subsea and energy markets for years to come.

Eric Haun does a deep dive on eight companies leading the way.

GE Renewable Energy Ideol Offshore, STX Europe Offshore Energy

As offshore wind projects across the globe look to incorpo- In several locations across the globe, commercial wind farms rate the latest innovations in wind turbine technology to maxi- are being designed for waters that simply cannot support the mize ef? ciency and drive down costs, many manufacturers are ? xed structures typically used. For these projects a new gen- producing larger turbines on advanced foundation designs for eration of ? oating wind turbines is in development. Offshore even greater water depths. These larger turbines, which are substations that collect and export power generated by tur- able to capture more energy and are more ef? cient, allow for bines through underwater cables will also need to be specially fewer installations and lower maintenance costs. engineered to ? oat. Ideol and STX Europe Offshore Energy

In March 2018, GE Renewable Energy announced it will in- say they are developing a novel ? oating substation that will be vest more than $400 million over the next three to ? ve years compatible with both traditional bottom-? xed and new ? oat- to develop and deploy the Haliade-X 12 MW, set to take over ing offshore wind farms. Ideol develops ? oating foundation as the world’s largest and most powerful offshore wind tur- technologies for offshore wind farms, and STX has supplied bine. The installation will feature a 12 MW capacity, 220-me- substations to the bottom-? xed offshore wind industry. To- ter rotor, a 107-meter blade. Towering 260 meters over the gether the partners seek to create, build and install a univer- sea, Haliade-X will produce 45 percent more energy than any sal and modular ? oating substation based on Ideol’s patented other offshore wind turbine presently available and will gener- shallow-draft damping pool concept for ? oating turbines.The ate up to 67 GWh annually, GE said. concept involves a ring-shaped ? oating foundation structure

Higher power producing turbines offer ef? ciencies across an with a central opening that leverages hydrodynamic properties entire project by reducing risk and costs for installation (fewer to stabilize the foundation and turbine, or in this case substa- turbines installed), operation, maintenance and repair for de- tion. The sloshing of the water contained within the opening velopers, which makes offshore wind projects more pro? table effectively counteracts the movement of the ? oater cause by and ultimately lowers cost of electricity for consumers. The wave swell. Ideol and STX say the ? oating substation is being

Haliade-X is designed to offer greater power generation ef- designed to maximize both standardization for cost reduction ? ciency, with a 63 percent gross capacity factor ? ve to seven and modularization for greater project ? exibility. The devel- points above the current industry benchmark, according to opers aim to have a market ready solution in time for France’s

GE. Therefore, it will produce more energy per MW installed. upcoming ? oating commercial tenders.

July/August 2018

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