Innovative Anchoring System For Floating Offshore Wind
Capital expenditure is the greatest cost driver for offshore wind (according to the National Offshore Wind Strategy), offering the significant potential to reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and make wind energy competitive with other sources of energy. In general, mooring hardware comprises 10% of CAPEX, and in tension leg platforms, it comprises 16%. With total CAPEX for a wind farm project in the billions of dollars, mooring cost presents a significant opportunity for savings, especially on the West coast of the United States, where water depths are much deeper and floating turbines are needed. In the offshore floating wind sector, traditional anchoring systems use large heavy weights, caissons, driven piles, or drag embedment anchors to achieve the high-pullout forces required for wind turbine moorings. Large weights and forces ultimately convert into high costs. Additionally, the floating wind sector is contending with mooring and anchoring options that are mature but not realistic for large wind farms. This will lead to higher than expected costs and permitting issues unless addressed. Catenary style moorings on semi-submersible or spar platforms are a default option that will work on demonstrators, but entail a spiderweb of overlapping mooring chain in a full wind farm. This mess of mooring lines will make anchor installation difficult, increases risk of a single mooring failure propagating into multiples, obstructs fishing, and deleterious to marine mammals. Driven pile anchors produce extreme underwater noise levels that result in marine mammal monitoring requirements and costly schedule constraints that are unrealistic for a large farm development. Large suction pile anchors are impressive feats but require expensive logistics to move anchors from production facilities to wind farm locations, further increasing their high costs. Triton is developing an anchoring system designed for offshore wind sites with a focus on economic drivers, and mass production. Our product is based on highly efficient helical anchors that will reduce LCOE. It consists of an anchor and an installation tool that solves the traditional challenges with installing these anchors subsea. Lower manufacturing costs of the anchor, faster installation times, lower noise for the subsea tool over a driven pile hammer are just a few of the benefits. During the DOE Phase I and II efforts, Triton has built a pilot-scale prototype of the anchor installation tool, modeled anchor performance, and is conducting anchor testing. Work under a Phase IIB effort will increase anchor and installation tool TRL to support qualification of the anchor system for subsequent operational testing and commercialization.
- Research Organization:
- Triton Systems, Inc., Chelmsford, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0017969
- OSTI ID:
- 1733336
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase II)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-Triton-0017969
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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