Brief review about floating offshore wind turbines projects

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to point out the actual progress on offshore wind turbine projects by stressing their differences of construction in all their main parts: turbines, floats, mooring and foundations systems and the installation characteristics. Floating offshore wind turbines offer great savings in terms of installation: the float-turbine assembly can be done in basin or dock, regardless of weather conditions, the towing to the site is done by simple offshore tugs, the anchorage of the wind turbine requires the help of anchor hoisting vessels, very common in the offshore oil and the anchorage is done quickly by comparison to the installation of a conventional offshore wind turbine that requires many specialized vessels, type heavy haulage carrier for foundations and jack-up vessels for the installation of the turbine.