Wind Hybrid Evolution for Low-Carbon Solutions

Project Information

WHEEL

Grant agreement ID: 101084409

DOI

10.3030/101084409

EC signature date 9 December 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2027

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 25 358 675,34

EU contribution

€ 16 663 950,50

Coordinated by

ESTEYCO SA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WHEEL (Wind Hybrid Evolution for Low-Carbon Solutions)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The importance of the wind energy in the achievement of the desirable 0 net emissions by 2050 needs no explanation at this point. However, this objective is taking longer than expected due to several political, economic and environmental issues.

The WHEEL project, whose overall objective is to fully demonstrate and bring to a precommercial Technology Readiness Level (TRL) a revolutionary floating wind technology excellently suited for deep water locations, effective industrialization strategies, breakthrough cost reduction and minimized carbon footprint, is designed to overcome some of the current issues of the floating wind energy sector. It shall enable a radical step forward for LCoE reduction, whilst also addressing scalability, harbour infrastructure suitability and availability, and the sustainability & circularity of floating offshore wind.

Development and demonstration needed to reach the pursued TRL will be achieved through the design, installation, certification and testing of a fully operative 6MW Pilot unit, which will showcase and demonstrate the breakthrough advantages that the WHEEL technology can deliver to the floating wind industry. It will be installed in a deep-water location such as the PLOCAN testing area (Canary Islands, Spain), where it shall be thoroughly monitored along a period sufficient to underpin the commercialization and bankability of the technology.

Once the pilot unit is successfully completed, the project will have pushed a breakthrough technology for floating wind renewable energy to TRL 7 making it ready for its pre-commercial implementation. The project shall demonstrate an effective and feasible solution to reduce the cost of floating wind energy and a highly industrialisable and scalable support structure for the next generation of extra-large wind turbines. Some of the more relevant impacts afforded by the WHEEL project are presented below, providing an insight into the advantages delivered by the multiple novel technologies that the project brings together. Presentation of the project’s more relevant impacts is arranged in the following categories:
A) Design, manufacturing and installation for industrial deployment and scalability
B) Novel technologies for Operation & Maintenance and reduction of OPEX costs
C) Environmentally friendly use of the seas
D) Lowering the cost of floating wind energy

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The following lines summarize the activities performed and main results of 1RP:

•A complete assessment of the design has been conducted starting with the development of a Control Management Model (CMM v2) and generation of a design basis package, up to the engineering and design to final configuration (v4.1) verification events -load analysis integration, tank testing- included.
•WTG verification conducted based on fully coupled analyses and validated based on tank testing results.
•Coupled modelling and seakeeping analysis for each condition WHEEL shall go through.
•Tank testing show outstanding performance in all conditions and served to validate numerical models.
•Selection of concrete attending project needs, local conditions and means, and focusing on minimizing carbon footprint.
•Design considered aspects that might have an impact on the design or during the fabrication, and the compatibility of WHEEL for on onsite LCM.

To facilitate the construction:
•Analysis of facilities, equipment and material supplies required
•Definition of requirements and main specifications of the steel tripod transition piece and its construction strategy
•Analysis of a modular and pre-assembly strategy to achieve an optimal fabrication cost and assembly at yard.

•Several design loops for mooring definition - 3-line hybrid catenary connected to the platform in a crowfoot shape
•Definition of manuals for T&I, incl. accessibility manual (safety measures and accidental situation procedure).
•Accomplishment of permits and licenses for implementing the prototype.
•Evaluation and design of power evacuation (from prototype to grid).
•Development of the monitoring strategy, incl. analysis of high-level requirements.
•Definition of the decommissioning strategy.
•Realization of several activities to increase the Canary public acceptance.
•Start of the analysis and comparison of the carbon footprint for manufacturing and installation of WHEEL.
•Development of preliminary designs for turbines up to 20MW.
•Definition and implementation of the parameters to consider for the assessment from a buyer perspective.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The WHEEL project will go beyond the state-of-the-art in multiple topics related to floating wind.

While indeed the technological and cost-cutting impacts are led by the revolutionary WHEEL floater configuration and its unprecedented suitability for low-cost industrialized production processes, the project will also break ground in other multiple related but independent aspects: putting to the test an advantageous wind turbine configuration which is unprecedented in floating wind, innovating and testing new-generation synthetic materials for the mooring system, developing and testing new patented floating control strategies to overcome negative damping effects or designing patented solutions for on-site large corrective maintenance of floating wind turbines, which is a long-standing demand of the industry. All these ground-breaking solutions have been conceived to address the specific requirements -and opportunities- of floating energy industrial production, installation, and operation.

The WHEEL project will demonstrate the potential of such innovations when working together, but indeed many of them can be applied independently and as part of other floating wind.

To ensure further uptake and success different types of exploitation ranging from commercial exploitation of the projects results to academic exploitation will be performed. Moreover, each partner has a specific exploitation plan.

The strengthening exploitation potential during and beyond the Project Life Cycle, that is, the Project Legacy, will also be implemented. The project WHEEL will work closely with local stakeholders, including regional and local Governments, in order to pave the way to establish the first pre-commercial integrated offshore energy concept, comprised by wind system, a disruptive floater and mooring in Gran Canaria.

To this end, WHEEL project will produce a comprehensive Business Plan with the main technical and logistical features, funding instruments and administrative/legal authorisations requirements to decommissioning and re-install WHEEL 6MW FOW turbine, when the project has been concluded, in the commercial area of Gran Canaria.

Last but not least, WHEEL will develop an additional commercial pre-proposal, considering the technology developed and the experience gained with the project, for the scenario a large-scale commercial wind farm in the Canaries.