Concrete for Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW)
Joint industry project
DNV has secured sufficient interest from industry partners to launch a new joint industry project to enhance technology development and prepare for scale/industrialization of concrete substructures for floating offshore wind (Concrete FLOW).
Objective
The objective is to gain knowledge on topics specific to concrete floaters to further develop DNV standards. DNV-ST-0119 includes design provisions for concrete floaters; however, some of the requirements draw from Oil & Gas experience, and some draw from experience with bottom fixed wind farms.
The requirements should be further refined, optimized, and aligned for floating offshore wind developments. Two or three “hot topics” will be investigated as work packages.
The results of the Concrete FLOW JIP will be used to update the concrete design provisions in DNV-ST-0119.
Why
In the last ST-0119 external hearing, several comments related to the concrete design provisions were received from the industry. For concrete floaters, there are special topics (i.e. leak tightness) that may govern the design of the floater. Concrete structures are designed to crack, but the extent of cracking (width & depth + duration) should be controlled to maintain floatability and ensure long term durability.
For larger turbine sizes, DNV sees that concrete floaters are an attractive alternative to steel floaters from cost and carbon footprint comparisons. Improvements to the design provisions should further enable more efficient use of materials whilst maintaining the historically robust performance of offshore concrete structures.
Participation
DNV has discussed the JIP initiative with 30 companies, and we are ready to launch with 17 confirmed interested partners. In addition, we have received several ‘work in kind’ support offers, which remain to be confirmed.
We plan to carry out the JIP over a period of 1.5 to 2 years, starting Q1/2023.
Partners in the JIP will participate in scoping workshops, receive early access to knowledge gained, and have insight to the revised design provisions.