VIDEO: Floating wind and wave power generating platform

May 21, 2015

Floating Power Plant (FPP), a Danish offshore energy developer, has designed a floating platform that extracts energy from wind and waves combined to produce electricity.

Floating Power Plant has constructed a scaled P37 research and demonstration platform, that has been deployed at Vindeby offshore wind turbine park off Denmark.

The demonstration platform is 37 m wide, 25 m long, 6 m high that weighs approximately 320 tons, and it represents 1:2,3 scaled version of the P80 design for the commercial platform.

It has completed 4 offshore tests over the course of 8 years, clocking in over 20 months of grid-connection time.

FPP is developing a commercial P80 platform with a turret mooring system that will host a single wind turbine that can range from 2.3 MW to 5 MW.

The floating platform integrates four wave generation units as well, rated at approximately 400-650 kW each, depending on the wave climate at the selected site.

The combined capacity of wind and wave for the P80 floating power plant amounts to 7.6 MW.

The combination of the mooring system, the platform design and the high wave energy absorption ensures that the platform moves 360 degrees in order to face the incoming waves.

P80 is a large cross-shaped and semi-submersible device with 80 percent of the construction below the water line.

The P80 platform comprises a power take-off (PTO) system developed in collaboration with Siemens Industry, Fritz Schur Energy and Contech, that consists of an oil based hydraulic system, directly on the axel, which is modular and detachable, and enclosed in a dry indoor environment.

P80 has 4 power modules, each consisting of float and PTO containment unit, including connection to the platform and the hydraulic PTO system inside the PTO unit.

The floats absorb the energy of the waves producing electricity using PTO system.

According to FPP, the insights gathered from P37 offshore tests indicate that the floats absorb 60-80 percent of the incoming wave energy.

Take a look at the video of P37 demonstration wind and wave platform in operation.