FloatFarm: paving the way for the next generation of floating wind farms

Harnessing the full potential of floating wind power

Installed far from the coast, where winds are stronger and more consistent, floating wind turbines offer significant potential for generating renewable electricity. However, this technology still faces several challenges: improving its performance, reducing deployment costs and ensuring it integrates well into the marine environment.

The European FLOATFARM project aims to address these challenges by developing innovative solutions to design more efficient, reliable and sustainable floating wind farms.

Innovating at every stage of the design process

The project partners are working on various components that make up a floating wind farm:

• The wind turbine itself: they are studying new rotor designs to generate more energy.
• The substructure: gaining a better understanding of its behaviour, particularly its response to natural phenomena (waves, winds, currents, etc.).
• Mooring systems: researchers are investigating a solution whereby these systems are shared amongst several wind turbines to minimise the infrastructure required at sea.
• The entire array of wind turbines in a farm: they are seeking to better coordinate the operation of the turbines with one another to increase electricity generation.

These innovations are being tested through numerical simulations, laboratory and marine field trials, and demonstrators at various scales.

Taking greater account of environmental and societal impacts

Beyond technical performance, FLOATFARM adopts a holistic approach by studying the environmental and societal consequences of floating wind power development.

In particular, the project analyses the effects of the installations on marine ecosystems, underwater noise and the acceptability of future wind farms among the public and local stakeholders. The aim is to propose solutions that reconcile renewable energy production with the preservation of the marine environment.

Accelerating the European energy transition

By bringing together academic and industrial partners across Europe, FLOATFARM is helping to overcome the technological barriers that still hinder the roll-out of floating wind power. The knowledge and innovations developed as part of the project will make this technology more competitive and support the transition to a more sustainable energy system.
 

Partners

This project is coordinated by the Technical University of Berlin and brings together Centrale Nantes, France Energies Marines, the University of Florence, Ghent University, Delft University of Technology, the Technical University of Denmark, SAIPEM, Sowento, Next Ocean, SeaPower scrl, Innosea, the Italian National Research Council, blueOASIS, Hagnesia Wind, BW Ideol and Euronovia.

Benjmain Bouscasse, Floatfarm project leader at Centrale Nantes

Benjamin Bouscasse is a researcher in mechanical engineering, ocean engineering and naval engineering at Centrale Nantes. He works at the Research Laboratory in Hydrodynamics, Energetics & Atmospheric Environment (LHEEA) as a researcher and head of the IIHNE team (Interfaces & Interactions in Numerical & Experimental Hydrodynamics). His research focuses on the numerical and experimental modelling of floating structures.

Photos: Bertrand Malas