Demonstration and benchmarking of a floating wind turbine system for power generation in Atlantic deep waters

FLOATGEN’s objectives and applications

This project follows 3 main objectives :

  • Proving the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of an EU technology floating system in deep waters
  • Bringing wind energy applications closer to market in diverse European deep offshore areas
  • Assessing the expected global generation cost per MWh in a 15-year perspective
 
Floatgen prefigures commercial floating offshore wind farms to be installed in the coming years. Beyond that, Floatgen's applications are numerous :
  • Define and validate appropriate methods and processes for the construction, installation, operation and access of the floating system
  • Assess and validate its environmental impact
  • Validate performance and cost of operation and maintenance
  • Model a pathway for the reduction of energy cost from floating offshore WT system until cost values are comparable with fixed offshore wind structures and develop a roadmap
  • Ensure replicability in other deep offshore locations and transfer knowledge through benchmarking activities.

 

The Consortium

In order to reach its ambitious objectives, the project brings together a Europe-wide industry-led partnership. 

BW IDEOL(Coordinator – FR): Design and engineering of the complete system (mooring, hull, umbilical) and supply of the wind turbine, operation & maintenance

ÉCOLE CENTRALE DE NANTES (FR): Ocean engineering expertise and supply & monitoring of the test site (SEM-REV, located on the French Atlantic Coast) for the floating demonstrator.
 
BOUYGUES TRAVAUX PUBLICS (FR): Construction of the floating foundation.
 
UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART (DE): Contribution on coupled loads simulations and evaluation of measurement campaign.
 
RSK GROUP (UK): Analysis of the environmental impact of the floating system.
 
ZABALA (ES): Proper management and dissemination of the project.
 
FRAUNHOFER-IWES (DE): Benchmarking analysis between the proposed Floatgen system and other comparable floating solutions.
 
 
 
 
 

PUBLICATIONS

To learn more about this projet, you can read here the public available reports that have been produced from the very beginning of the project.