DemoSATH Floating Wind Platform In Position - Video - Offshore WIND
DemoSATH Floating Wind Platform In Position - Video | Offshore Wind
DemoSATH Floating Wind Platform In Position – Video
The 2 MW DemoSATH floating offshore wind platform demonstrator has been installed at the BiMEP test area offshore Spain in the Cantabrian Sea.
Windstaller Alliance carried out the operation and the company used their anchor handling vessel, the Normand Sapphire, along with local tugboats, to tow DemoSATH from the construction site in the Port of Bilbao to the BiMEP test site, located 11 miles (about 17 kilometres) away.
Once at the 85-metre deep BiMEP site, which is 2 miles (approx. 3 kilometres) offshore in the Cantabrian Sea, the hook-up operation involved connecting the six pre-laid mooring lines to the structure’s single-point mooring turret.
According to Saitec Offshore Technologies, works in the BiMEP area are ongoing to finalize the connection of dynamic and static cable and pull-in to the DemoSATH’s turret which will enable the energy export to the onshore electrical grid.
DemoSATH is expected to generate the equivalent electricity needs of 2,000 Spanish households a year.
Saitec’s SATH (Swinging Around Twin Hull) technology is based on a concrete platform concept with a plug-and-play Single Point Mooring, the same technology used for FPSOs. The base of the structure is approximately 30 metres wide and 64 metres long.
DemoSATH’s concrete floating foundation, which carries a used 2 MW wind turbine, has been under construction since 2020.
During the two-year operational period at the BiMEP site, the SATH technology for floating offshore wind, developed by Saitec Offshore Technologies, will be tested and the tasks related to its operation and maintenance requirements will be analysed, said the company.
With the installation of the unit now complete, the DemoSATH project will enter a period of commissioning, which will be followed by the operational phase when electricity generation will commence, according to the press release.
The aim of this demonstrator project is to test the technology for its industrialisation for offshore wind farms in deep waters.
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The DemoSATH floating offshore wind platform demonstrator is being developed by Saitec Offshore Technologies, RWE, and Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO) who joined the project earlier this year.
“This milestone in the installation of the DemoSATH floating offshore wind project validates the years of steady commitment, resilience, and teamwork. Along the journey we have overcome some challenges that now serve as valuable lessons for future projects. We are proud of the achievements of our team, and the combined efforts of our collaborators. It’s thrilling to witness the DemoSATH project set sail, playing an integral role in the progression of renewable energy,” said David Carrascosa, Chief Operations Officer at Saitec Offshore Technologies.
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Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.