Renewable Energy World - November/December 2016

far is, “yes.”
The benefts are highlight-
ed when using a bucket foun-
dation interface — or suction
caisson, an anchor system
for the turbine that resem-
bles an overturned bucket
that is placed in the seabed.

Water is suctioned out of the bucket to decrease the pressure and sink the bucket into the seabed.

According to Møller, there is an overall beneft to having the heavy foundation on top of the bucket so it can start the suction process.

In designing the hybrid foundation, Siemens looked at the price of steel and concrete.

“There aren’t that many different jacket systems for offshore wind turbines yet — although we expect that will increase — but if you compare the cost for one of these relatively complex steel transition pieces (TP) with the cost of the concrete TP that we have designed so far, we see that the concrete TP is roughly half the price of a steel TP, even at realistically low steel prices,” Møller said.

The fndings of that cost-comparison were “an eye opener,” he said.

Siemens’ goal is to reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for offshore wind projects within the six years from 2014 to 2020 by 35

Ofshore Wind of the North Sea Countries

The North Sea is one of the most active offshore wind power development regions in the world, and it could become even more active. This year, the nine North Sea countries signed a declaration that seeks to facilitate further cost-effective deployment of offshore renewable energy — specifcally wind. Here’s a look at the status of fve offshore wind projects in the North Sea.