Gazelle tests floating platform with modular steel construction for 18 MW-plus turbines

According to OffshoreWIND.biz, the platform was assessed for 50-year extreme conditions including wind speeds of 59.8 m/s at a 155-metre hub height and significant wave heights of 14.2 metres. Gazelle said simulations kept roll and pitch below 5 degrees. A preliminary assessment indicated 44% lower capital expenditure and 52% lower levelised cost of energy than the selected benchmark semi-submersible designs, although the assumptions and results have not been independently validated in the supplied source.

• OffshoreWIND.biz says the passive-restoring design uses a central counterweight and three articulated mooring frames with near-vertical mooring lines.
• The latest configuration features a tripod support structure, upgraded mooring frames and revised hull geometry.
• Gazelle attributes lower structural weight and greater damage tolerance to the revisions.
• Gazelle includes modular steel construction in its proposed cost-reduction approach.
• Gazelle says tow-to-port operations could reduce specialist-vessel requirements.

Watch for independent validation of the extreme-condition simulations and preliminary cost comparisons, disclosure of their underlying assumptions, and evidence that the modular steel and tow-to-port concepts can progress from testing to commercial deployment.