Studies show that for sea depths exceeding 30-60m, such floating structures would be economically more feasible than present offshore technology based on piled, jack-up or gravity foundations. Such floating wind turbines could also be situated near large cities with a deep-water coastline.
The four-year DeepWind project - involving a consortium of 12 companies - aims to examine the potential of deploying a new design of vertical-axis wind turbine, combined with a rotating and floating offshore substructure.
The basis for the vertical-axis wind turbine is the well-explored Darrieus design. Although the turbine is simple enough, it would require a long sub-sea support structure as well as a direct-drive MW generator with an electronic control system at the bottom of the sub-sea shaft, together with associated electrical power transmission cables.
As a first step towards the development of large 20MW turbines, the consortium first plans to demonstrate a kW-sized wind turbine that will be placed in the waters of the Roskilde Fjord next to Risø DTU. The demonstration vehicle will provide the basis for the development of a 5MW design and to evaluate the prospects of developing the larger 20MW turbine.
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