FLOAWER — FLOAting Wind Energy netwoRk

Results in brief

FLOAting Wind Energy netwoRk

The FLOAting Wind Energy netwoRk prepared 13 Early Stage Researchers (ESR) with an interdisciplinary training with the aim to design better performing, economically viable Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT). FLOAWER network uniquely gathered outstanding academics and FOW industrial leaders, covering the entire offshore wind industry value chain. ESRs thus benefited from the multidisciplinary expertise of 25 major academic and industrial partners, and a unique panel of research infrastructures, from lab scale to full scale. The FLOAWER network was designed to fulfil the following objectives: • Deliver leading-edge training to ESR by addressing the state-of-the-art scientific and transversal needs of the FOW sector • Enable ESR to benefit from regular mobility across EU’s most prominent industry and academia actors of the FOW sector • Confront the ESR to the current and upcoming engineering challenges faced by the FOW industry • Create a multidisciplinary environment where industries and academia share ideas and work together towards solutions accelerating the commercialisation of the FOW sector • Support the European offshore wind energy industries to identify technological improvements by providing high performance characterization and modelling tools that can enhance their competitiveness 6 tailored scientific, technical and transversal trainings were provided to the ESRs, covering all the different skills that they need to be a highly qualified but versatile researcher. Both academia and industry provided lectures on FOW challenges for commercialisation and design improvement to reduce LCOE. ESRs benefited from many opportunities to travel across Europe to meet with industry and academia, either during network-wide trainings, secondments or during conferences and exhibitions at a European level. The participation to WindEurope summit 2022 and the organisation of a side-event dedicated to the FLOAWER communication towards an industrial audience was a highlight. ESRs were engaged in advanced research, contributing to a collective knowledge base under the mentorship of leading figures in the academic and industry community. The project yielded numerous innovative methodologies and essential tools. These advancements emphasized cost efficiency, incorporating techno-economic strategies to enhance technology performance, such as the integration of structural optimization in floaters.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Wind power is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy technologies and is the second largest form of power generation capacity in Europe. However, 90% of the wind energy is currently produced inland and space is becoming scarce for new installations. Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) represents a unique opportunity for Europe, since deep (>60m) offshore areas represent 60-80% of the European offshore wind potential. However, the sector faces two main challenges: high costs and a gap of skilled human resources.The FLOAting Wind Energy netwoRk (FLOAWER) will provide 13 Early Stage Researchers (ESR) with an interdisciplinary training with the aim to design better performing, economically viable floating wind turbines. As part of their research activity, ESRs will contribute to the development of cutting-edge numerical and experimental tools for the wind resource and the subsystem design (heave-plates, load effects on floaters, substructure) of vertical and horizontal axis wind turbines. Their work will contribute to define cost-effective floating wind turbine designs. FLOAWER network uniquely gathers outstanding academics and FOW industrial leaders, covering the entire offshore wind industry value chain (ie. farm developers, offshore subsystem suppliers -turbine, floater, mooring- and wind resource specialists). ESR will thus benefit from the multidisciplinary expertise of 25 major academic and industrial partners, and a unique panel of research infrastructures, from lab scale (wind tunnel, wave tanks, etc.) to full scale (pre-commercial floating wind turbines and farms). FLOAWER multidisciplinary approach will endow the ESR with scientific, technical, and soft skills to train the new generation of high-profile scientists and engineers, provide them with enhanced career perspectives and address offshore wind energy industry needs. Altogether, FLOAWER will strengthen European wind energy industry leadership and competitiveness.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

ECOLE CENTRALE DE NANTES · Nantes Cedex 3CoordinatorFrance
CARL VON OSSIETZKY UNIVERSITAET OLDENBURG · OldenburgGermany
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · Kongens LyngbyDenmark
NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU · TrondheimNorway
POLITECNICO DI MILANO · MilanoItaly
UNIVERSITAET ROSTOCK · RostockGermany
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK · CorkIreland
UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART · StuttgartGermany
WAVEC/OFFSHORE RENEWABLES - CENTRO DE ENERGIA OFFSHORE ASSOCIACAO · LisboaPortugal

FLOAWER · FLOAting Wind Energy netwoRk

Results in brief

FLOAting Wind Energy netwoRk

Project objective

Participants

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