A consortium including Siemens Gamesa, Universal Foundation, Aalborg University, Fred Olsen Windcarrier and Offshoreenergy.dk has won a €3.8m grant from the Danish government for the development of new suction bucket foundation technology.
The Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate made the award via the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme.
The project is seeking to demonstrate how “an industrialised suction bucket concept can slash installation costs of offshore wind foundations”, the partners said.
Under phase one of the project, the next-generation suction bucket concept has been designed and an eight-by-eight-metre prototype has been fabricated.
Phase two will involve an offshore trial installation campaign using the prototype.
The partners said: “The new concept merges the noise-free installation advantages of suction buckets with industrialised fabrication methods using coil steel instead of classical plate steel.”
Siemens Games project manager Finn Daugaard Madsen added: “By applying this innovative fabrication method to suction bucket technology in offshore wind, the steel plate thickness can be reduced to below 20mm, compared to today’s typical thickness of 30-40mm for this type of foundation.
“This means use of lower costs steel with higher supply availability. The assembly process is much more suitable for high-volume manufacturing, and hence supply bottlenecks can be eliminated and costs reduced.”
Image: Universal Foundation
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