Description
The TSPF project aims at the development of an offshore floating platform for supporting wind turbines off-shore, i.e. in areas located more than 40 km offshore where depths are up to 100 m and swell and wind conditions are extreme. The type of floating platform to be developed will be called SATH (Swinging Around Twin Hull) and its design will consist of two twin horizontal floats made of pre-stressed concrete, braced each other. The platform is positioned at the site tied to a buoy attached to the bottom by three mooring lines with their corresponding anchoring elements and by which the connection to the electrical system is channelled. The connection to a mooring buoy (Single Point Mooring) will allow the platform to rotate, and align with wind direction. With this project SAITEC will provide an added value to those companies constructing, exploiting and/or being concessionaires of wind parks.
Summary of project results
Nowadays bottom fixed foundations wind turbines are limited to depths less than 40-50 m. This limitation opens a path to a new concept to exploit the vast wind resources of deep areas: floating wind turbines. Saitec has developed an offshore floating platform concept in which the innovative nature of the platform lies in the use of reinforced concrete as the main material of the structure and in the selected positioning system that enables the platform to maintain a permanent orientation independent from the wind direction. The platform response has been proved through the empirical results obtained by the experimental campaign combined with using these results to validate the numerical models so they become a potential tool for the analysis of updated configurations of SATH taking account for the non-linear effects that are not included in the numerical models.
Summary of bilateral results