Introduction to

Floating Offshore Wind Technology

Suzanne MacDonald | Senior Researcher & Project Leader| National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Maine Fishermen’s Forum | February 29, 2024
How does a wind turbine work?

NREL | 2
Figure credit: Joshua Bauer, NREL
 Offshore Wind Turbines are Moving to 15-MW Scale

GE 12-MW Wind Turbine Nacelle Photos Courtesy of GE

107-meter Blade for GE 12-MW Wind Turbine

• GE Upgraded the 12.0 MW (220-meter rotor) turbine to 14-MW in 2021

• Vestas V236-15.0MW produced its first power near the end of 2022
• Siemens Gamesa’s 14-236 DD prototype came online in early 2023

One 14-MW Haliade-X can supply the equivalent energy for up to 9,700 Maine households
NREL | 3
Floating Wind is Being Planned Where Waters Are Too Deep or Too Crowded for
Fixed-Bottom Technology
• Globally, 80% of offshore
wind resources are in waters
greater than 60 meters.
• Floating wind enables sites
farther from shore, out of
sight, with better winds.
• Fixed bottom ocean space is
becoming scarcer.
• Floating wind technology is Substructure Technology Bathymetric Demarcation
expected to be deployed at 60-meters ocean depth is a common delineator used to differentiate waters with either fixed or floating
technology. While site specific conditions would influence ultimate technology selection, 60-meters is
utility-scale by 2025. seen as a reasonable upper economic limit for fixed-bottom systems (Musial et al. 2016).
Source: Lopez et al. 2022 https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/83650.pdf

The future floating wind energy market may be bigger than the fixed-bottom marketNREL | 4
 Parts of a Floating Offshore
Wind Turbine

Floating wind turbines look similar to

fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines
from the surface but are supported by
buoyant substructures* moored to
the seabed.

*The floating wind turbine support structure is comprised

of the tower, substructure, mooring lines, and anchors Parts of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine NREL | 5
Offshore Turbine Substructure Type Depends on Water Depth

NREL | 6
Figure credit: Joshua Bauer, NREL
 Characteristics of Basic Floating Platform Types
– Spar: Achieves stability through ballast
(weight) installed below its main
buoyancy tank
• Challenges: Deep drafts limit port access

– Semisubmersible: Achieves static

stability by distributing buoyancy widely
at the water plane
• Challenges: Higher exposure to waves;
more structure above the waterline

– Tension-leg platform (TLP): Achieves Spar Semisubmersible Tension Leg

static stability through mooring line Platform
tension with a submerged buoyancy
tank
• Challenges: Unstable during assembly;
high vertical load moorings.
Figure credit: NREL
NREL | 7
 European Floating Wind Projects
Kincardine 47.5-MW Floating Wind Plant Hywind-2 30-MW Floating Wind Plant
(Scotland 2022) (Peterhead Scotland 2017)

Photo: Courtesy of Stiesdal Offshore Technologies

Photo: courtesy of Principle Power Inc.

(photo credit: Walt Musial)

Five Vestas 9.5-MW Wind Turbines Five Siemens 6.0-MW Wind Turbines
 Cost Breakdown of a Floating Offshore Wind System
• The turbine cost is about
23.3%.
• Substructure and
foundation cost is about
37.5%.
• Electrical infrastructure
cost is about 13.4%.
• Assembly and installation
cost is about 5.7%.
• Soft costs are about 15.3%
• Other costs are about 4.8%
Floating Offshore Wind Capital Cost Breakdown
Stehly, Tyler, and Patrick Duffy. 2022. 2021 Cost of Wind Energy Review. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL | 9
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/84774.pdf
Floating Offshore Wind Capacity Could Reach More Than 39 GW by 2030 Based
on Developer-Announced Commercial Operation Dates
• Over 59,000 GW of
fixed bottom offshore
wind is operating.
• Up to 123 MW of
floating offshore wind
was operational as of
December 31, 2022.
• Average of 14 industry
forecasts estimate
9,795 MW installed by Industry
Forecasts
2030.
• Most of the floating
offshore wind pipeline
is still in the planning
phase.
Cumulative floating offshore wind capacity by country based on announced CODs through 2030
 Floating Wind Mooring Systems

Spar Semi-sub TLP

Synthetic
fiber Chain
rope
Tendons

Chain
Clump
section
weights
Anchor
NREL | 11
 Adapting Mooring Systems to Reduce Impacts to Fishing
Reducing Anchor Footprints

Catenary mooring • Catenary moorings have

the largest footprint but are
chain the simplest.

• Semi-taut moorings
Line on seabed allows significantly reduce the
drag embedment anchors Semi-taut mooring anchor distance from the
turbine without changing
chain synthetic anchor types or
substructure design.

• Taut moorings reduce the

Taut synthetic mooring anchor circle by more than
Uplift at anchor 50% but require vertical
requires suction synthetic load anchors and more
piles or similar
complex design changes.
 Mooring Lines are Heavy and Thick

Rope Materials – Polyester, Nylon, Comparison of the size of a person (left) next to representative sections of mooring
Polypropylene. (Photo: Walt Musial) rope (middle) and a mooring chain link (right). Image by Matt Hall, NREL
 The Underwater View
• Waves and wind create turbine movement Watch circle
• The mooring system controls the “watch circle” (platform’s offset envelope)

• Protection of the electric cables requires tight offset limits.

Wind induces
platform offset

Cable extends

Line falls
Line lifts off seabed
Line drags along seabed
 Turbine Spacing Increases With the Rotor Diameter
• Typical spacing 6-8 rotor diameters
• Larger turbine spacing = fewer turbine
Turbine spacing
shown is not to scale positions but lower wake losses
• Turbine spacing is independent of anchor
spread
• Lease area energy yield may be greater with
tighter spacing but with diminishing returns
and higher costs.

Figure credit: NREL

Example: GE 14-MW Haliade-X turbines with a 220-m rotor would be spaced over 1 mileNRELapart
| 15
 Floating Offshore Wind Substations

• Offshore substations or electric service

platforms collect AC power from all turbines
across a wind power plant at 66 kilovolts (kV)
or greater.
• High-voltage transformers step up the voltage
to 220 kV and export power to shore through
buried subsea cables.
• Substations are attached to the seabed with
floating substructures.
• Export cable lengths greater than about 50
miles will use high voltage direct current
systems to reduce losses and cost.
Photo from Siemens, 27865 NREL | 16
 Floating Offshore Wind Photo Rendering of Future Salem Offshore Wind Terminal.
Source: Crowley
Commercial Port and
Infrastructure Requirements

Navigation Channel Crew Access &

Wharf Upland Yard Crane
and Wet Storage Maintenance
Length and draft must Storage and wet-tow out 30 – 100+ acre storage Minimum 800-ton lift Moorage for crew
accommodate serial of assembled turbines with and staging of blades, capacity at 500 feet access vessels. O&M
year-round access.
turbine/substructure Nominal width/depth nacelles, towers, height to attach berth for major repairs
assembly and delivery – about 100-m/8-m possible fabrication of components of full system
(e.g., one unit per week) minimum floating substructures
NREL | 17
 Floating Wind Project Vessels – Installation Phase
• No heavy lift https://www.vanoord.com/en/equ
ipment/cable-laying-equipment/
foundation vessels,
WTIVs and feeder
barges.
• No rock dumping Cable Lay Vessel
vessels for scour
https://www.onesteppower.co
protection m/post/how-do-tugboats-work

• Larger fleet of small

https://www.solstad.com/wp-
vessels json/solstad/api/vessel/367/pdf

• Vessel spread
suited for deeper
waters. Anchor Handling Tug Supply Tugboats
NREL | 18
 https://salemoffshorewind.com/

Floating Wind Project Vessels

Operations Phase
Crew Transfer Vessels (CTV)
• Tow to shore for large
component repair https://www.royalihc.com/offshore-energy/offshore-
vessels/service-operation-vessels

• Service in place for smaller

repairs
• Service Operation Vessel (SOV)
far shore projects
• Crew Transfer Vessels (CTV) Service Operation Vessel (SOV)
near shore projects https://www.vision-
systems.com/embedded/article/14196924/unm
anned-surface-underwater-vehicles-new-gps-
• Autonomous fleet emerging for system-auvsi

inspections, surveys, data

gathering
NREL | 19
Autonomous Unmanned Vessels
 Consequences of Siting Projects Farther from Shore
Negative Factors with Positive Factors with
Greater Distance to Shore Greater Distance to Shore
• Operational expenditures • Higher energy yield
increase potential
• Efficiencies with Possible
• Export cable cost
multi-GW plant
increase
aggregations
• Installation costs turbine,
• Lower conflicts with
cables, substation
commercial fishing Average Windspeed (meters/sec)
increase
• Higher emissions from
ships
• Greater exposure to
whales
• Increase turbine
downtime
• Higher electrical losses
• Increased safety risk to Water Depth (meters)
crews NREL | 20
Additional
Resources

windexchange.energy.gov
NREL | 21
 Key Takeaways
• Offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine will use floating wind turbines

• 80% of the global offshore wind resources are suited for floating offshore
wind energy. Gulf of Maine has some of the best in the world.
• Floating offshore wind is expected to be deployed at utility-scale by 2025
but has been proven at the 30-MW to 50-MW scale.

• Custom ports and vessels will be key to offshore wind development in the
Gulf of Maine.

• Mooring systems with smaller anchor footprints and other innovations are
under development to minimize impacts to fishing.

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 Thank you
Thank youfor
foryour
yourattention!
attention!
Suzanne MacDonald
Senior Researcher & Project Leader
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
suzanne.macdonald@nrel.gov

Photo Credit : Dennis Schroeder-NREL NREL | 23

Additional Slides
 European Floating Wind Projects
25-MW WindFloat Atlantic TetraSpar 3.6-MW Floating Offshore Wind
(Portugal 2019) (Norway 2021)
Photo: Courtesy of Stiesdal Offshore Technologies

Photo Credit: Windplus/Dock90

Three Vestas 8.4-MW Wind Turbines Siemens 3.6-MW Wind Turbine

NREL | 25
Boskalis AHT Manta (Kincardine) NREL | 26
Boskalis AHT Manta (Kincardine)

NREL | 27
Bourbon AHTS Orca (WindFloat Atlantic)

NREL | 28
NREL | 29
 General Floating Wind Energy Takeaways
• 80% of the global offshore wind resources are suited for floating offshore wind
energy and floating costs are not inherently greater; future floating markets could
be more significant than fixed bottom.
• The floating offshore wind pipeline is now greater than 100 GW but most projects
are still in the planning phase.
• Pace of cost reduction is dependent on achieving commercial-scale (gigawatt scale)
floating wind projects, which are expected globally after 2026.
• There are multiple regions in the United States where future offshore wind
development is likely to depend on floating wind technology.
• Economic headwinds in the fixed bottom industry could slow near term progress for
floating.
• Floating wind technology is ready ramp up, industrialize, standardize, and optimize
at the 15-MW scale. The industry needs to pause on upscaling and focus on volume
production to meet targets for decarbonization. NREL | 30