HOMEAdmin2021-02-06T09:58:45+00:00

FLoAtinG offSHore wInd oPtimization for commercialization

Reducing the Levelized Cost of Energy for floating offshore wind power

What Flagship is?

FLAGSHIP is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for floating offshore wind to the range 40-60 €/MWh by 2030.

The initiative will develop and fabricate the first 10 MW Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) assembled on a floating semi-submersible concrete structure in the Norwegian North Sea.

Objectives

The main objective of the FLAGSHIP Project is to validate and demonstrate an innovative cost-effective Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) to ensure imminent LCOE reduction in the range 40-60€/MWh. This aim will be addressed with a set of specific goals:

To demonstrate the first 10+ MW Floating Offshore Wind Turbine mounted on a floating substructure.

To design and build at 1:1 commercial scale a concrete semisubmersible substructure based on Olav Olsen’s patented and design protected OO-Star Wind Floater concept.

To prove the feasibility of a robust and versatile FOW solution for 10MW turbine scalable to 20 MW, suitable for different sea conditions and water depths.

To define and qualify a cost-effective concrete structure manufacturing process available for building on land, on barge or in a dry dock; fully adaptable to typical port facilities and logistics found in most countries worldwide.

To demonstrate cost effective installation methods without use of expensive offshore heavy lifts, being the offshore installation performed 100% by towing and use of ordinary moderate size vessels.

To provide a verified re-powering and lifetime extension strategy beyond 25 years, based on first digital twin system available for FOWT at different upscaled capacities under real operational environment and minimum 50-years lifetime concrete substructures.

To decrease LCOE by 30-50% instead of current average rate of 120 EUR/MWh in pre-commercial FOWT solutions.

To reduce the environmental impact of FOW solutions by reducing the carbon footprint of the construction of the concrete floating platform to 50% compared to a steel platform.

To increase social acceptance by contributing to reduce the cost of electricity and the socioeconomic impact of the offshore wind technologies.

To improve O&M and platform monitoring by the definition of an interactive holistic predictive model for preventive maintenance and efficient wind farm control to reduce wake effects for floating wind farms.

To estimate the impact of the climate change in those floating offshore wind farms to be installed and operate in the next 30 to 50 years.

FLAGSHIP Project covers the whole value chain and facilitates interaction between stakeholders notably through standardization, common design and work procedures, harmonizing strategies, digitalization tools and common agile reporting methods.

The initiative addresses the natural step that the wind sector must take to achieve economies of scale in floating wind power through better integration along the entire value chain starting with a single FOW solution at unit scale.

It will be followed by its industrialisation at wind farm scale for mass production and, finally, the project will ensure the versality and long-term feasibility of the proposed solution by concept scalability and lifetime extension.

Key Technology Areas (KTA) are defined at each level as part of the development that integrate the full solution.

Project Demonstration

FLAGSHIP concepts and tools integrated in the whole value chain will be exhaustively tested in a real operation environment in METcentre’s offshore wind test site in Norway, which will be operated by UNIT during the project lifetime. A step-by-step demonstration and validation strategy will be implemented to validate the developments as a global pre-commercial FOW Farm.