Saitec Offshore Technologies’ BlueSath scaled floating offshore wind testing platform has capsized in Spanish waters following Hurricane Epsilon.
Faced with waves of up to 10 metres, the reduced 1:6 scale model of a floating wind turbine installed off Santander was unable to remain upright.
Saitec said the device has now been retrieved and transported to the shipyard.
The company said in a statement that model had already completed its testing campaign in operational and extreme scenarios.
But “unfortunately, prior to the planned decommissioning, the device was hit by the historic swell generated Hurricane Epsilon”.
It said that BlueSath was designed to overcome with ease the worst-case scenario for its dimensions which meant facing five-metre high waves, equivalent to 30 metres high for the full-scale model.
Saitec added: “This covers extreme environmental scenarios at which a full scaled unit could be exposed around the world.”
The installation of the prototype, initially planned for last spring, had had to be postponed to August, due to delays caused the Covid-19 crisis, the company said.
Therefore, “due to the short time of testing within operational environment (April to September) it was decided to extend the offshore deployment one extra month in Autumn to explore the technology behavior under extreme conditions even if most of the scenarios were unrealistic scenarios (in full-scale)”, it said.
Saitec added: “The removal of the platform and transport to the Port of Santander was already planned for the coming weeks, since the hydrodynamic trials were successfully accomplished and considering that the metocean conditions were not representative anymore when scaled and wave condition exceeded design scenarios.
“With little time to react Epsilon Hurricane touched land impeding platform removal operation.
“During the new storm Epsilon, waves reached heights close to 10 metres at the installation site (equivalent to 60 metres full scale) well above the forecasted and the historically registered.”
The huge waves ended up capsizing the device.
Saitec said that the results obtained during the deployment had “proven an excellent behavior in harsh design scenarios which even exceeded extreme events to be encountered” offshore.
“Consequently, Saitec Offshore feels even more confident of the suitability of Sath technology and continues to push all its projects and opportunities forward,” it said.