The prototype of the TetraSpar floating wind turbine, created by Stiesdal Offshore Technologies (SOT) and supported by Shell, RWE, and TEPCO, is on its way to its test location off the coast of Norway. The platform will then be linked up to the pre-installed mooring system by Bourbon Subsea Services once it arrives at its allocated place at the Metcentre site.
The floating wind turbine, which consists of a TetraSpar floating foundation and a 3.6 MW Siemens Gamesa direct-drive wind turbine, was constructed in the Port of Grenaa in Denmark, where the platform has been completed and ready to ship out since last month.
Norway floated its long-awaited first offshore wind procurement last year, inviting proposals for 4.5 GW of projects in two enormous swaths of ocean that include portions of a depth that necessitate floating units.
SOT founder Henrik Stiesdal developed the TetraSpar concept in 2015 to accelerate the industrialisation of the fast-emerging sector. Shell and RWE joined the project as partners in 2018, with Japanese power major TEPCO joining in 2021. SOT’s design incorporates floating wind concepts such as X1 Wind, Hexicon, and others, with an emphasis on piece-work concepts.
Analysts anticipate a near-1,000-fold expansion of the current fleet as international supply chains form to support the development of commercial-scale projects around the world. These projects include significant markets in Europe’s northern seas, the US Pacific, and off the coast of Asia Pacific, where DNV expects half of the 260 GW of global floating wind capacity to be operational by 2050.
