Floating offshore wind energy

The location of wind turbines on large floating structures offshore offers the obvious advantages of no land usage and a probably more reliable wind resource. However, there are potentially significant technical and cost drawbacks. This paper describes the preliminary results of an EPSRC project aimed at developing analytical and numerical design tools for evaluating the performance of offshore wind farms. The principal problems that have been addressed include the determination of an optimum hull-form for the floating structure and of developing analysis tools for the interaction of the motion in waves of the platform with the turbine aerodynamic performance as well as the blade and hub loads. The project also addresses secondary issues such as platform weathervaning, its mooring system and the means for energy-transmission to shore. The possible integration of wind turbine output with power from associated gas turbines in the North Sea's offshore fields is also described. The paper presents some of the theory and results arising from the work to date and identifies the kinds of engineering and cost problems that are expected to be encountered.