Floatgen, the first wind turbine installed offshore France, more than doubled its power production in the second half of 2019 compared to the first semester , reaching an annual total of 6GWh.
According to Ideol, the number was achieved because of a time availability exceeding 94.6% in the second semester and an above-average capacity factor.
During the second half of 2019, the turbine faced maximum wave heights of up to 12.5m, equal to significant waves of up to 6.5m.
This is said to confirm the performance and seakeeping of the Damping Pool design, as well as the accuracy of integrated floating wind turbine simulations developed by Ideol.
Such accuracy has been verified and validated by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), reviewing the load and movement measurements as well as the data processing methods.
ABS also evaluated the fully coupled simulation tools used by Ideol, independently re-running a number of load cases and comparing the simulation results with the observed and processed measurements.
The floating wind turbine remained fully operational throughout these first winter months, producing power up to 5.5m of significant wave height and up to 24.2m/s of wind speed.
Floatgen, which features a Vestas V80 turbine mounted on Ideol’s Damping Pool, started delivering electricity to the French grid in September 2018.
The project is a joint venture of Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Centrale Nantes engineering school, RSK Group, Zabala, the University of Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IWES.