The 2 MW Floatgen floating wind turbine, the first wind turbine installed offshore France, more than doubled its power production in the second half of 2019 compared to the first semester, reaching an annual total of 6GWh.
According to the developer Ideol, which installed floating foundation on the Sem-Rev test site (Atlantic Coast of France), the number was achieved because of a time availability exceeding 94.6% in the second semester and an above-average capacity factor.
During the second half of 2019, the wind turbine faced maximum wave heights of up to 12.5 meters (= significant waves of up to 6.5 meters), confirming the excellent performance and seakeeping of the Damping Pool design, as well as the accuracy of integrated floating wind turbine simulations developed by Ideol’s in-house experts.
"Such accuracy has been verified and validated by an independent third party (American Bureau of Shipping a.k.a. ABS) reviewing the load and movement measurements as well as the data processing methods used by Ideol," said a press release.
ABS also evaluated the fully coupled simulation tools used by Ideol, independently re-running a number of load cases and comparing the simulation results with the observed and processed measurements.
The wind turbine remained fully operational throughout these first winter months, producing power up to 5.5 meters of significant wave height and up to 24.2 m/s of wind speed, once again confirming the absence of the impact of the movements induced by the floater on the power production.