How a floating offshore wind farm is built
1 |
The foundations are constructed either at port site or in different locations and assembled at the port on land. |
2 |
Each foundation is launched into the water quayside on a barge. |
3 |
The tower, nacelle, and blades are likely to be installed quayside by a crane placed on land, reducing complexity in the staging and assembly process, limiting or even removing the need for specialised installation vessels. |
4 |
The assembled foundation and turbine is towed by tugboat to the site offshore. |
5 |
The structure is hooked up to array cables and mooring lines, which are already in place, suspended by buoys. The mooring lines, which are fixed to the seabed by anchors, keep the foundation firmly stable on the ocean surface, even in high winds and waves. |
6 |
Energy from each turbine is sent through dynamically suspended array cables and collected at a substation. This can also be placed on a floating foundation – or potentially fixed to the seabed. From here, power is transmitted to shore. |