GICON Floater Secures Marinet2 Funds, Schedules Further Tests

April 25, 2018

The Endowed Chair of Wind Energy Technology at the University of Rostock (LWET) has been awarded the funding for further tank tests of the GICON SOF Tension Leg Platform (TLP) floating turbine foundation within the framework of the European funding network Marinet2.

The funding was awarded in connection with the long-standing cooperation between LWET and GICON in the field of the development of floating substructures for offshore wind turbines.

After successfully passing wind and wave tests simulating an operational GICON SOF in October 2017, the TLP’s full-scale transport and installation processes are now to be simulated and utilized in the further development of the technology.

Project Manager Dr. Frank Adam (LWET) said: “We are very happy that we have been awarded the funding, because we can use the tests to support our computational results for the latest GICON® SOF designs with methodological measurements from the tests.”

The tests are scheduled to take place in Gothenburg in autumn 2018 and will take more than two weeks. The tests in the water basin of the SSPA – Maritime Hydrodynamics Laboratory will serve to consolidate the development of TLP at level TRL 5, after the system had already reached TRL 5 through the tests at ECN in Nantes in October.

“The greatest advantage of our TLP foundation lies in its stability,” said Prof. Jochen Grossmann, founder of GICON.

“This means that the platform-related requirements for wind turbines are much lower than for other systems.”

The GICON SOF also relies on innovative steel-reinforced concrete composite components.

“With this combination, plus a modular assembly in port, we are streamlining the supply chain and reducing the levelized cost of electricity to below 50 Euro/MWh while significantly reducing CO2 emissions at the same time,” Prof. Grossmann said.

The developers have produced a video demonstrating the construction of all modules at various suppliers, the transport to the port of destination, the modular assembly at the quay edge and finally the towing process to the final destination and the subsequent installation in the wind farm.