FLOTANT: Innovative, low cost, low weight and safe floating wind technology optimized for deep water wind sites

Many elements of an offshore wind farm become more expensive as depth increases: moorings, anchors and dynamic cables are the most obvious. However, deepwater areas also pose additional challenges for installation and O&M strategies. The FLOTANT project aims to develop an innovative and integrated floating offshore wind solution, optimised for deep water (100-600m) and sustaining a wind turbine generator of 10 MW or more, consisting of: a mooring and anchoring system using high performance polymers and based on Active Heave Compensation to minimise excursions, a plastic-concrete hybrid float and a power export system with long life and low weight dynamic cables. The project includes improved O&M strategies, sensors, monitoring and evaluation of techno-economic, environmental, social and socio-economic impacts. Prototypes of the novel anchoring, mooring and dynamic cable components and a scale model of the hybrid offshore wind floating platform will be tested and validated within the scope of the project. Three relevant environments have been selected for testing: the MARIN tank, for overall performance under controlled conditions; the Dynamic Marine Component Test Facility (DMaC-UNEXE), for large-scale prototype testing; and the PLOCAN marine test bed, for characterisation of new materials under real marine conditions.

A 60% reduction in CAPEX and 55% reduction in OPEX is expected by 2030 thanks to new FLOTANT developments, including additional sectoral reductions due to external technology improvements. The FLOTANT solution will allow an optimisation of the LCOE reaching values in the range of 85-95 €/MWh by 2030.