Borgen (Sway) Copy_Outsourcing_book_temp.qxd 24/02/2010 10:49 Page 50
Floating Wind Power in Deep Water
» These foundations
represent a sizeable
Figure 1: Tower/Foundation/Anchor Costs, Including Installation
20.00
slice of the total
16.00
investment
12.00
M€
8.00
4.00
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Water depth (m)
Jacket Tri-floater Multiple-tension-leg
Sway upwind without bracing, slack mooring Sway single-tension-leg
Figure 2: Wire Bracings on the Upwind Side of the Tower
So it’s wise to choose an experienced contractor.
It is evident that the picture of how the cost of energy changes with
both the water depth and turbine size is not always very obvious. Factors
Offshore wind is an industry in its infancy, with the first off-
shore wind farms of significant size still less than 10 years old.
such as the development of new concepts that may reduce the tower
Few foundation contractors can demonstrate a strong portfolio
and foundation costs or increase the turbine size without a weight or
in this fledgling energy sector, but some can. MT Højgaard, for
cost penalty may also completely change common perceptions of the
instance. lowest possible cost of energy produced from offshore wind. Floating
foundations are also one factor with the potential to change this picture.
To date MT Højgaard has installed over 350 foundations for
a total of 9 offshore wind farms, figures which no other EPCI
In the oil and gas industry, bottom-fixed platform substructures were
contractor worldwide can match. And along with this total MT
Højgaard has gained an unrivalled store of knowledge and
designed for ever-increasing depths in the 1970s and 1980s.
problem-solving expertise in every phase of the process, from
Conservatism in the industry resulted in jackets being installed in water
planning and design to fabrication, transport and installation
depths of more than 400m in the Gulf of Mexico in the late 1980s.
in what is often a harsh and highly challenging environment. This approach quickly changed when floating production vessels were
accepted by industry. Today, no oil and gas company would even
When one considers that the foundations represent a signifi-
consider building a fixed platform in 400m water depth. It is likely we
cant part of the total investment in an offshore wind farm, it is
will see the same trend in offshore wind.
not hard to see why customers set high value on experience.
And why MT Højgaard continues to be the contractor of choice.
One of the advantages of floating wind turbines in the initial market
MT Højgaard is Denmark’s leading contractor with around
introduction phase is that the existing learning curves and experiences
5,000 employees and an annual turnover of approx. EUR
from shallow-water wind turbines in most cases are directly applicable
1,500 million. to floating turbines. At the same time, it is clear that the challenge of
understanding and analysing a floating wind turbine is something
mthojgaard.com/offshore
quite different from understanding and analysing a bottom-fixed wind
turbine. The development of special advanced computer simulation
codes is fundamental to our understanding of the physical behaviour
MODERN ENERGY REVIEW VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1
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