Offshore wind: £6.5m trial to begin of ground-breaking innovation to cut costs
Green innovation news – by Thomas McMullan
11th June 2014
An enormous bucket will be sunk into the floor of the North Sea to anchor a new generation of turbines in a £6.5 million trial to begin this summer in a bid to slash the cost of offshore wind.
The ‘suction bucket’ has been in development for five years already and two have already been installed at Dogger Bank – a Round Three offshore wind site off the east coast of England. The trial this summer will take place at the sites of three planned major offshore wind farms in the North Sea in what is being described as “critical” for the future of offshore wind.
The ‘suction bucket’ was originally one of four low-cost foundation designs shortlisted as part of an international competition run by the Carbon Trust in 2009.
Cutting costs
The current price tag for offshore builds is up to £75 billion with deep water foundations accounting for 20 per cent or more of this. The suction bucket removes the need for expensive offshore cement foundations. The technology aims to reduce the capital costs of offshore wind energy by up to £1 billion over the next decade and reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind farms by 10 per cent.
“This trial is critical as it will determine the extent to which it can be applied for future offshore wind projects,” said Jan Matthiesen, director of the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator, which is leading the project. Partners include Statoil, Statkraft, EON, DONG Energy, Aalborg University and Universal Foundation in Aalborg, Denmark, which developed the design.
How it works
The new technology resembles something between an elephant’s leg and an upside-down toilet plunger and works by creating a ring of quicksand around the rim of the turbine’s foundation. When the base reaches the seabed a pipe connected to the stem (leg) sucks water from the centre of the bucket (foot). As a result, water flows through the sediment, softening it enough for the bucket to sink through.
“Trying to pull it out creates a vacuum in the bucket, like when you try to pull your foot out of wet sand on the beach,” explained Søren Nielsen, technical director at Universal Foundation.
“Trying to pull it out creates a vacuum in the bucket, like when you try to pull your foot out of wet sand on the beach,” explained Søren Nielsen, technical director at Universal Foundation.
The three sites for the trial have been chosen because they provide different soil conditions to determine the potential range of the new technology.
Jan-Fredrik Stadaas, technology manager for Offshore Wind in Statoil said: “This is an important industry project, demonstrating cost reduction through industry collaboration and partnering. It represents also a de-risking activity, moving technology further and securing future cost reductions in the offshore wind market. We hope to see results from this project benefit the whole offshore wind industry, especially in the UK market.”
The ‘suction bucket’ was originally one of four low-cost foundation designs shortlisted as part of an international competition run by the Carbon Trust in 2009.
Like this content? Please subscribe to our free weekly e-newsletter at the top of the page for more content like this.
Follow us on Twitter.
Related content:
