Europe: Taking SAITEC’s floating support structure to the next level

ECN, being the market leader on offshore wind O&M and installation cost modelling, was asked by SAITEC to quantify the benefits of their new concept.

In the last few years, different floating concepts have been introduced in the offshore wind market. The larger challenges so far are cutting construction and maintenance costs and designing floating support structures to use in both shallow as well as deep waters. To address these challenges SAITEC came up with the new concept ‘Swinging Around Twin Hull (SATH)’.

Improvements

Perhaps the most  unique feature of SAITEC’s solution is the single point mooring. Two twin concrete hulls are fastened to a single mooring point with a bearing. It allows the platform to swing around this point. ECN calculated that connecting to one single point shortens the installation time and makes it easier and cheaper to bring back the turbine to harbour for replacement of large components. Another cost and time reduction lies in the fact that all platform and turbine equipment is assembled at the harbour. This reduces offshore operations to a minimum. Also, the use of concrete instead of steel has positive impact on the maintenance costs because effects such as corrosion will not occur. 

Demonstrate the added value

SAITEC chose ECN to demonstrate the added value of the SATH concept. Project manager Masoud Asgarpour (ECN): “We worked together with SAITEC to demonstrate the levelised cost of energy reduction of their floating concept. Here at ECN, we have strong expertise on calculating the cost of operation & maintenance, and installation. We’ve used our knowledge to calculate the benefits of SAITEC solutions in terms of cost, time and benefits.”

Luis González-Pinto, Head of Renewable Energy of SAITEC: “The expertise of ECN helps us in quantifying the added value of the SATH platform. Floating platforms will only have a future if they are able to achieve a competitive levelized cost of energy.”Innovative solutions such as SAITEC’s SATH concept will boost the offshore wind market in general and will help  cutting cost of floating offshore wind farms.