Portugal’s First Offshore Wind Turbine Installed and Certified

 
Portugal’s first offshore wind turbine has been installed and certified care of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), which provided certification services for the design, fabrication, and installation of the 2MW WindFloat Agucadoura unit. The floating wind turbine now sits in waters of slightly less than 50 metres some 4 kilometres off the northern coast of Portugal.

The installation of the WindFloat Agucadoura also marks another milestone, according to ABS. The WindFloat project was the first offshore wind deployment in the world that did not require heavy-lift equipment offshore.

According to ABS, “final assembly and pre-commissioning took place in a controlled shoreside environment.” Additionally, the installation was the “first deployment of a semisubmersible structure supporting a commercial-size wind turbine.”

“Up until today, all offshore wind farms have been based on bottom fixed foundations in water depths less than 30 m,” says ABS Offshore Account Manager Lars Samuelsson. “As we go deeper, floating offshore wind turbine foundations may become a cost-effective alternative.”

“As wind demonstrates massive potential as a source for renewable energy, ABS is proud to partner with projects such as the WindFloat,” said ABS Chairman Robert D. Somerville. “With our decades of offshore experience, we have a great existing body of knowledge that we can use to develop guidelines for the next generation of projects that capture growing alternative energy sources such as wind.”

Source: ABS
Image Source: Principle Power