Windfloat Atlantic floating wind turbine moorings

The 25MW Windfloat Atlantic Project wind turbines have been successfully moored with Lankhorst Ropes’ GAMA98® Dyneema® DM20® fibre rope mooring lines. The three WindFloat 8MW WTG platforms, installed 20km off the coast from Viana do Castelo, Portugal, make up the world’s first semi-submersible floating wind farm and will generate enough energy to supply the equivalent of 60,000 users per year, saving almost 1.1 million tons of CO2.

Moored at a water depth of 85 – 100 m, the WindFloat is a triangular shaped semi-submersible floater with a wind turbine erected on one of the columns. Each platform’s mooring system consists of three catenary mooring lines of GAMA98® rope, made from Dyneema® DM20®, attached to chain and drag embedded anchors. The soft catenary mooring system is designed to restrain the platform’s horizontal motions.

The mooring lines were pre-laid on the seabed, prior to the arrival of the WTG platforms, and connected using platform mooring connectors, reducing the time needed for platform mooring. Using High Modulus Poly-Ethylene (HMPE) mooring lines enables lower mooring costs compared to spiral strand steel wire both during installation and future disconnection.

“Using our proven mooring line installation methodology, the mooring went very well and was completed on-time,” says Alberto Leao, Offshore Wind sales manager, Lankhorst Offshore. “The GAMA98 Dyneema DM20 rope is engineered to specifically meet the challenges of mooring offshore wind turbines in shallow waters.”

Want to know more?

Visit the new Offshore Wind page on the Lankhorst Offshore website to learn how we can assist your offshore wind and wave energy projects. Alberto Leao, Offshore Wind sales manager, Lankhorst Offshore, can be contacted on email al@lankhorstoffshore.com.

For more information on Lankhorst Offshore and Offshore Wind, visit www.lankhorstoffshore.com.