Offshore wind foundations of the future face many challenges. Projects will be built further from shore, in deeper water, with the ability to be installed without exceeding strict regulatory requirements on underwater noise.
The innovative design of the suction bucket jacket, developed by DONG Energy, has been tailor-made specifically to tackle these challenges.
The suction bucket jacket design consists of three legs welded together in a jacket structure, standing on top of three giant suction buckets anchoring the foundation to the seabed. It is a lightweight structure that only requires a single operation when the foundation is installed offshore, reducing the time of the installation and hence contributing to lowering the costs of electricity from offshore wind.
The new foundation concept has been developed by DONG Energy in cooperation with Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) in the UK and marks the beginning of a new technological plateau in the construction of turbines offshore.
Suitable for water depths of 30-60m with a height of 57m and weighing roughly 850 tonnes. The suction bucket jacket is installed at the offshore wind farm Borkum Riffgrund 1 in Germany.
https://youtu.be/w9Qz1PiG1Y8
The German offshore wind project Borkum Riffgrund 1 in Germany has been selected for testing this foundation due to its sandy seabed, which makes the installation of this concept a challenge. Challenging test conditions provide a more solid case for the evaluation of the concept.
Press Release, September 25, 2014