Nevesbu and Iv have developed a patented concept for a floating offshore substation (FOSS).
The has been successfully tested in MARIN’s basin and lays an important foundation for the development of floating wind energy, said Netherlands-based Nevesbu.
According to the DNV report ‘Floating offshore wind: The next five years’, 1800GW of offshore wind energy is expected to be generated by 2050, of which 250GW will come from floating wind farms.
To efficiently transport this huge amount of energy from sea to land, offshore substations are essential, but to date, there are no proven designs for floating offshore substations on the market, said Nevesbu.
The dynamic conditions faced by a FOSS are uncharted territory for equipment and cable manufacturers, it added.
The concept developed by Iv and Nevesbu addresses these challenges and is based on Tension Leg Platform technology. The concept is designed to convert 1.4GW-2GW of power, with a DC export link of 300kV to 525kV.
Nevesbu tested the floating concept on scale model with different configurations of the cable guiding system.
The test was conducted within MARIN’s SME slot and the maximum wave height tested corresponds to the once-in-100-years event west of Shetland, corresponding to Hs > 17 metres.
An initial high-level verification showed that the measured maximum displacement, accelerations and CGS loads in irregular waves are similar to the results of Nevesbu’s numerical model.