The Norwegian certification society DNV has endorsed a new floating wind foundation technology by the Chinese company Wison Offshore & Marine, approving the technical feasibility and commercial readiness of the technology.
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In the verification letter, DNV said the "w.semi" concept is suited for floating wind installations at water depths from 50 metres and more.
“Issuing a Verification Letter for w.semi™ concludes the first stage of the certification process,” DNV said.
In June last year, Wison built China’s first floating wind foundation developed by China Three Gorges (CTG).
Billed as China first floating wind platform, the 91-metre by 32-metre semisub is used to mount what is claimed by CTG as the world’s first floating wind turbine able to operate in rough weather conditions such as typhoons.
The semisub is linked to the seabed by multiple mooring lines and anchors.
“We are proud to bring our extensive offshore experiences into China as certification is very important for demonstrating the performance, reliability and commercial viability of new technologies and concepts. Mitigating risks via certification is particularly valuable for floating offshore wind projects in securing project finance and demonstrating operational application,” said Kim Sangaard-Mork, executive vice president for renewables certification at DNV.
Wison O&M's director of wind technology Weimin Chen explained: “Since we successfully delivered China’s first floating wind platform in summer 2021, Wison Offshore and Marine has accelerated the development of offshore wind technology. Our goal is to build the floaters in China for Europe and the North American markets. We are continuously refining our design of w.semi™ with many of the supporting technologies. Securing certification is the key aspect of our technology development, and we are very pleased to reach this important milestone in the certification process with DNV.”
Floating wind turbines are understood to give access to wind resources in deep water – with at least four times as much ocean surface space compared with bottom-fixed wind.
According to DNV’s latest Energy Transition Outlook report, floating offshore wind is anticipated to generate 15% of all offshore wind energy by 2050.
To put this into context, this is the equivalent to a development of more than 3000 times the size of Hywind Tampen, the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm, currently under construction in Norway.
