SPIE, Fugro and Principle Power progressing on offshore wind projects

Shinfox Far East Energy has contracted SPIE Wind Connect to perform cable services for the Taiwan Power Co. (TPC) Phase II fixed wind development, 20 km offshore Changhua County, Taiwan.

SPIE will terminate and test inter-array cables that connect 31 Vestas V174-9.5MW wind turbine generators to the offshore substation.

TPC Phase II should generate 1,000 GWh of electricity annually, the company added.

Fugro completes site investigation for future Ørsted offshore wind farm 

In southeastern Australia, Fugro has completed a site investigation for Ørsted at a future offshore wind farm landing site on Victoria’s eastern coastline.

This was the first onshore deployment of Fugro’s patented Heat Flow Module (HFM) CPT probe, designed to measure in-situ thermal properties of the soil alongside traditional CPT data.

This approach should speed up delivery of data needed for infrastructure planning.

The HFM CPT probe formed part of a wider ground investigation carried out using Fugro’s GroundIQ service and other geophysical/geotechnical techniques. The aim was to provide Ørsted with a detailed understanding of subsurface conditions, supporting decisions concerning future transmission routes for the offshore wind development.

Traditional CPT data covers subsurface soil strength, layering and composition, which are all important for offshore wind turbine installation, Fugro explained. But understanding thermal soil properties for underground transmission cables is also critical, Fugro added, since cables emit heat that affects long-term performance. 

The HFM probe is said to provide thermal conductivity results within 24 hours from undisturbed soil samples, compared with weeks for laboratory tests.

Fugro used satellite connectivity to ensure near real-time collaboration between its field teams in Australia and its processing centers in the UK, allowing Ørsted engineers in Europe to update their drilling plans overnight, reducing the need for repeat measurements.

Principle Power says the three floating offshore wind projects in western Europe using its WindFloat technology have produced more than 1 terawatt-hour (TWh) of cumulative power since 2011.

That was the year that the 1.2-MW WindFloat 1 pilot was connected to the Portuguese grid in 2011.

WindFloat 1 was a 2-MW pilot that operated between 2011 and 2016 in Portugal and then offshore Scotland from 2018-2020. That was followed by the 25-MW WindFloat Atlantic, which has been in service since 2020 offshore Portugal’s Atlantic coast. Finally, the 48-MW Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm in the central North Sea offshore Scotland has been in operation since 2021.

The facilities are said to have withstood severe Atlantic and North Sea conditions, including waves of up to 20 m and winds of up to 214 km/h (which Principle Power equates to a Category 4 typhoon).

The WindFloat platforms are designed to maximize wind turbine generation through a combination of:

• Semisubmersible architecture said to provide a stable platform that enables compliance with all wind turbine operational and extreme limits.
• A platform hull trim system that uses water ballast to counter wind turbine-induced thrust forces, keeping the wind turbine oriented vertically (within 0-2 deg >97% of the time), while increasing energy production by up to 2.5% compared with "passive platforms."
• System architecture that is delivering average platform availability of ~99%.

CEO Julian Arrillaga Costa said, “These projects have exposed us to the full range of complexity in the sector, providing valuable lessons that we are using to continuously refine and improve our technical and commercial offering.”

The 30-MW Les Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) project, the next incarnation of WindFloat, will be connected to the grid in southern France later this year.

Principle Power is now working with suppliers on commercial-scale floating wind projects in France, the UK and South Korea that will likely have 12 to 70 wind turbines rated at 15-20 MW each, almost double the rated capacity of turbines at WindFloat Atlantic and Kincardine.