Floating Wind Farms

M.Kasthuri.
B.Karthini.
III ECE-C
INTRODUCTION
A floating wind turbine is an offshore wind turbine
mounted on a floating structure that allows the turbine
to generate electricity in water depths.
Introduced by Professor William E. Heronemus at the
University of Massachusetts in 1972.
2/3rd of world is surrounded by water and so Offshore
Wind resource is extremely abundant.
China ranks first in producing energy by Floating
Windmill.
The Need
Power Output from a wind turbine is
proportional to the cube of wind
velocity and to the square of the rotor
diameter.
The wind can be stronger up to 10
m/sec and steadier over water due to
the absence of topographic features.
Existing fixed-bottom wind turbine
technology deployments had been
limited to water depths of 30-meters.
Worldwide wind resources are
abundant over deep-waters.
Wind should be steady and consistent
for the smooth working of turbines.
Turbine Floaters
Floating platform turbines can be classified into.
1. Single-turbine-floater (one wind turbine
mounted on a floating structures).
2. Multiple turbine floater (multiple wind turbines
mounted on a floating structures).
Basic Idea
 A regular offshore wind turbine is placed over a 120
meter high floating concrete cylinder
This structure is fastened to the sea floor with three
sturdy anchor line
The electrical power generated by the wind turbine
will be transported by cable to shore or possibly to
offshore oil platforms
The windmills will be designed for water depths from
200–700 meters.
The windmill will reach 80 meters above the sea's
surface and will have a rotor diameter of about 90
centimeters.
The windmill tower will be fastened to the concrete
structure at about 12 meters beneath the sea.
Envision wind turbines with a power capacity of 5
MW and a rotor diameter of approximately 120
centimeters.
It's feasible to imagine offshore wind farms with up
to 200 turbines and a combined power capacity of
1,000 MW. Steady winds in our part of the world
could mean wind farms producing more than 4 TW
per year
Design For Anchoring Floating
Structures
Two types of engineered design for anchoring floating
structures.
1. Tension leg mooring systems
2. Catenary mooring systems
Tension Leg Method
Catenary Mooring System
Some Special Characteristics
 Horizontal forces due to waves depends upon how the structure is
connected to the seafloor.
 In framed, tower like structures ,the horizontal wave forces produce
extreme bending and overturning moments as the wave forces act
near the water surface
 Design is based on loadings due to permanent and variable loads or
by fatigue strength due to cyclic wave loading & wind loading.
 Owing to the corrosive sea environment, floating structures have to be
provided with a good corrosion protection system
DESIGN CRITERIA
Designing must based on serviceability and safety requirements for a
service life of 100 years or more
Motion characteristics include displacements, velocities and
accelerations. Displacement are also considered for floating bridges
For an underwater structure smaller damage may result in property
damage which is expensive to repair , structural failures would be
related to a major structural damage .
An overall stability of floating structures is considered in terms of
overturning moment by wind only, and uprighting moment due to
hydrostatics of the inclined body.
Even damage to a few compartments does not seem to impose a
stability problem
Design checks using truly ultimate strength formulations
CORROSION PROTECTION
Protection system includes coatings, cathodic protection, corrosion
allowance and corrosion monitoring,overprotection may cause
hydrogen embrittlement should be avoided.
Cathodic protection is generally applied while coating methods are
applied for parts shallow up to 1m depth.
Of 1m below the water level ,the coating methods include painting,
titanium-clad lining, stainless steel lining, thermal spraying with zinc,
aluminium and aluminium alloy.
The splash zone is the most severe with regard to corrosive
environment and its upper limit zone is determined according to the
installation of the structure.
The ebb and flow zone corresponds to the next most severe
environment but this zone does not exist for floating structures since
they conform to the changing water level.
CONCLUSION
It requires less investment
when compared to others,
Ecofriendly , higher
electricity production at
cheap cost ,renewable and
available all days and nights
, Low noise emissions
Advantages of operating
in the offshore environment
include higher and steadier
wind speeds, less-restrictive
acoustic requirements, and
fewer space constraints
THANK
YOU