Water depth limitations of fixed‐bottom offshore wind turbines are driving the development of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) design concepts. A primary obstacle of floating wind is the high capital cost of constructing large platforms and mooring systems to support the turbine in deep water. As foundations are a significant portion of the overall cost, efficient anchor and mooring system design is required to make the FOWT system economically competitive.
The use of shared anchor systems provides a means for significantly reducing the number of foundation footprints. This has associated project cost reduction in materials, transport, installation, and geotechnical site investigation. The effects of complex loading imposed by anchor sharing on the foundation requires careful examination and vary with the foundation concept chosen.
Ryder has been involved in the feasibility study stage of several shared anchor design concepts, which consider multiple loading and various other foundation options and is also working in conjunction with Newcastle University on pioneering research on cutting-edge anchor sharing concepts.
Our experience in the design of mooring systems for floating FOWT structures can determine the optimum mooring foundation for any given criteria. If you have a requirement and are interested in the engineering concepts and solutions, please contact our team.