Written by Nick Blenkey

Six T-Floaters being transported on a single ship

Gothenburg, Sweden-based Bassoe Technology has received ABS Approval in Principle (AiP) for its T-Floater floating wind turbine foundation, designed to carry a 10 MW turbine in the harsh conditions of the North Sea.

With three columns and T-shaped pontoons to allow transport of multiple T-Floater hulls on a dry tow vessel, or alternatively in modules for in-water assembly, the design is intended to operate with a tow-out draft of only eight meters with the turbine installed. This facilitates flexibility in the selection of an assembly port, allowing quayside installation of the tower and turbine close to the offshore wind farm.

“The T-Floater has been designed to meet the demand for industrialization and effective logistic solutions for floating,” said Joakim Nilsson, managing director, Bassoe Technology. “The ability to transport up to six completed 15 MW T-Floaters on a single dry tow vessel will allow for cost-efficient construction and transportation. Together with our parent company, CIMC Raffles, we will have the ability to deliver more than 50 T-Floaters per year but we will also, due to the in-water assembly possibility, be able to work together with local shipyards with limited width of dry-docks/slip-ways to meet local content requirements.”

CLASS NOTATIONS

The AiP verifies that the design is feasible for the intended application and, in principle, complies with the applicable requirements of the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Installations. When constructed, the units will qualify for the ABS Class notations ✠A1, Offshore Wind Turbine (Floating), (S), Central North Sea, and FL(25).

T-Floaters in operation

“ABS has supported on delivering more than 80 MW of pioneering floating wind turbine projects to the market. It is great to be able to use this experience to support new innovation in the market, such as this novel design from Bassoe Technology,” said Greg Lennon, ABS vice president, global offshore wind.

Want to know more about offshore floating wind developments in the United States? Check out Marine Log’s recent webinar on this topic.