Floating Wind Foundation’s TetraSpar demonstrator successfully connected to the Norwegian grid
In July, I wrote about the TetraSpar Floating Wind Demonstrator project going out to sea. I spotted it next to the Maersk Interceptor drilling rig in the port of Grenaa, Denmark, and now it’s in place. off the coast of Norway and produces electricity. Here is the press release as of December 1, 2021 in its entirety:
The TetraSpar demonstrator, the world’s first fully industrialized floating offshore foundation, is now commissioned and operational.
- The floating wind turbine foundation TetraSpar Demonstrator owned by Shell, TEPCO RP, RWE and Stiesdal has been successfully connected to the Norwegian grid
- The floating foundation was towed from Denmark to Norway in July. It has now been fully commissioned and produces electricity in automatic and unattended operation
- Concept offers a lean manufacturing, assembly and installation process with lower material costs
The pioneering floating wind project, TetraSpar Demonstrator, is commissioned and operational, anchored in situ at a water depth of 200 m (656 feet) off the coast of Norway. The project will now enter its test phase where data on the performance and characteristics of the TetraSpar floating foundation will be captured and analyzed to pave the way for commercial scale floating wind projects.
Earlier this summer, the TetraSpar demonstrator reached its destination at the METCentre test site after towing 360 nautical miles from the assembly port of Grenaa, Denmark.
The commissioning of the Siemens 3.6 MW turbine is the latest in a series of milestones for the TetraSpar demonstrator:
- Completion of factory fabrication of components for the world’s first industrially manufactured floating offshore foundation
- Quick assembly of the modules at the dock, requiring no welding and no special port installation
- Launch using a semi-submersible barge, followed by rapid installation of the turbine using an ordinary land crane
- Safe deployment of the keel when towed to sufficient depth, making the TetraSpar Demonstrator the world’s first spar foundation capable of being deployed from an ordinary shallow water port
The demonstration project has shown that Stiesdal’s ‘Tetra’ concept remains on track to deliver significant advantages over existing floating wind concepts, with the potential for lighter manufacturing, assembly and installation processes, and with lower material costs.
Henrik Stiesdal, Chairman of the Board of TetraSpar Demonstrator ApS, said:
“This is an important step for the project. First of all, we are happy to have completed all phases of the project without any significant security incidents, even though we have deployed a very innovative project with a range of world premieres. The vast experience of our project partners has been invaluable in this regard. Then, we are obviously very happy that new technologies, ambitions and design proposals only a few years ago, have now materialized. Everything indicates that our key objective, to accelerate the industrialization of floating offshore wind, can really be achieved, not only at the prototype level but on a large scale. “
Thomas Brostrom, senior vice president of renewable energy at Shell, said:
“We are extremely proud to have taken this important step and to have contributed to the realization of a truly innovative floating concept. Shell is committed to further developing the floating wind industry globally by providing technical and financial support to promising concepts such as Tetraspar. Ultimately, we hope to deploy floating wind technology globally and on a large scale to enable further decarbonization of our customers’ businesses and for society as a whole.
Seiichi Fubasami, President of TEPCO RP, said:
“The whole world has high expectations of floating offshore wind farms. One of the most ambitious projects underway is the TetraSpar floating foundation demonstration project. Every step of the process, from manufacturing and assembly to launch and deployment, went smoothly, and we are now very excited to have the demonstrator up and running, taking an important step towards operations. commercialization of TetraSpar.
“In Japan, we expect more floating offshore wind farms to be built from 2030 as we aim to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. The TetraSpar concept can be used in natural conditions in Japan and enables the easy building of regional supply chains thus playing an important role as we aim to transition to renewables as basic energy sources.
“This is a promising new technology for the future and we expect the TetraSpar float to perform well while operating off the coast of Norway over the next two years. “
Sven Utermöhlen, CEO Offshore Wind of RWE Renewables, underlined:
“This project has been both stimulating and inspiring. The spark of genius with the TetraSpar concept is its industrialized manufacturing and assembly methodology, which we believe is crucial for long-term cost reduction. Our deep involvement in this project means that we have now gathered first hand evidence on how this approach can be extended to commercial projects.
“This project has taught us more crucial lessons than we ever imagined, and it has been great to work together with our project partners to safely deliver such innovative technology. It was particularly interesting to see how important it is to transfer the experience of RWE in offshore wind fixed to the seabed in our floating projects. The success of this project motivates us to continue to offer cutting-edge innovation.
The upcoming test phase will provide the four partner companies with important knowledge and opportunities to further refine the TetraSpar technology. The partners will fully exploit the results obtained to expand the possibilities of offshore wind power and thus contribute to the achievement of a clean and sustainable carbon neutral society.
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