EnBW and Aerodyn have completed a two-month test of the Nezzy 2 floating offshore wind platform in the Bay of Greifswald in the south-western Baltic Sea.
The 18-metre-tall prototype built at 1:10 scale consists of two turbines on a floating platform.
EnBW said that in the Bay of Greifswald, 180 sensors were used in 30 different measurements to establish how Nezzy 2 behaves when exposed to different wind directions and speeds as well as wave heights and directions.
It said that Nezzy 2 even withstood a storm tide in mid-October.
“Scaled up to the later true size of Nezzy 2, the wave and wind conditions were equivalent to a category four to five hurricane with waves reaching heights of up to 30 metres,” EnBW said.
The 1:10 scale model has now been dismantled and, over the coming weeks, the recorded data will be evaluated.
The findings will then be incorporated in the design of the 1:1 scale model, which is set to be tested in China at the end of 2021 or start of 2022, EnBW said.
EnBW head of wind and maritime technology Hannah Konig said: “We want to use the floating wind turbines ourselves for our international offshore projects.
“That is why we are really delighted that this technology can now be further developed with our support.”
Aerodyn managing director Sonke Siegfriedsen said: “For one and a half days, we were able to observe how Nezzy 2 remained stable in the water in extreme weather conditions. Our tests have shown that our model is now ready to be tested in the sea on a full-size scale.”
Prior to the test in the Baltic Sea, Nezzy 2 was tested in a flooded gravel pit in Bremerhaven.