The Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate, through the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP) has allocated 3.8m EUR to a consortium, to present suction bucket technology with focus on industrialising suction bucket technology. The overall target is to limit the cost of foundation construction and installation by 40%.
The consortium, which includes Siemens Gamesa, Universal Foundation, Aalborg University, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier and Offshoreenergy.dk, seeks to demonstrate how an industrialized suction bucket concept can reduce the installation costs of offshore wind foundations. The purpose of this Part 2 project is to complete an offshore trial installation campaign using the new suction bucket concept prototype.
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The partnership builds on a project (Part 1), in which a next generation suction bucket concept has been designed and an 8×8 meter prototype has been created. During Part 2, the prototype will be used for the offshore trial installation campaign. The new concept combines the noise free installation advantages of suction buckets with industrialized fabrication methods using coil steel, instead of classical plate steel. The fabrication method was developed between Siemens Gamesa and the Danish Ib Andresen Industries for application in onshore towers.
Finn Daugaard Madsen, Project Manager, SiemensGamesa, stated:
By applying this innovative fabrication method to suction bucket technology in offshore wind, the steel plate thickness can be reduced to below 20mm, compared to today’s typical thickness of 30-40mm for this type of foundation. This means use of lower costs steel with higher supply availability. The assembly process is much more suitable for high volume manufacturing, and hence supply bottlenecks can be eliminated and costs reduced.
