Discover the people behind FLOATFARM in our interview series!
Meet Dr. Ing Joseph Saverin from the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) with 6 questions and answers about the project goals, challenges and expected impact.
What are the main goals of FLOATFARM?
The main objective of FLOATFARM is to advance floating offshore wind through the development of a range of innovative technologies. These technologies will be developed both numerically within a holistic optimisation framework and in the laboratory at a range of experimental scales.
Why is it important to significantly lower the LCOE?
The European Union has set ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030 and beyond. To ensure that these targets can be realistically achieved, the LCOE of floating offshore wind needs to be significantly reduced to ensure that the commitments made by investors, manufacturers, operators and customers are financially viable and attractive.
Why is it important to significantly decrease the negative environmental impacts on marine life and enhance the public acceptability?
It is vital that the impact of floating offshore wind on the marine environment is well understood to ensure that the European Union’s ambitious renewable energy targets are met in an environmentally responsible manner. It is also vital that the development of floating offshore wind is carried out in such a way that the public is not only well informed, but also benefits from the floating offshore wind industry of the future.
How are you going to proceed?
The FLOATFARM project consists of three actions. Action 1 covers turbine-level technologies and will introduce a range of advances including groundbreaking generator, rotor, substructure and mooring technologies. Action 2 focuses on farm-level technologies and introduces technologies that exploit aerodynamic and structural interactions between turbines in a farm environment, including wake modulation and shared mooring and anchoring. Action 3 is dedicated to improving models for estimating the environmental and sociological impacts and financial modelling of floating offshore wind projects. A cross-cutting action links Actions 1 to 3 with a state-of-the-art multidisciplinary design analysis and optimisation framework.
What will be the added value of the project?
The FLOATFARM project will contribute in a range of domains to advance the maturity of floating offshore wind. A number of numerical and experimental public datasets will be generated for verification and validation of technologies in both academia and industry. A range of numerical models will be developed to enable more accurate and efficient simulation of floating offshore wind scenarios. A scaled 15MW platform will be designed, built, commissioned and operated in a representative marine environment to demonstrate the technologies within FLOATFARM and also to provide a representative test bed for future technologies seeking to advance their technology readiness.
As the FLOATFARM coordinator, what do you expect from the project?
My ambition for the project is to ensure that we efficiently and effectively advance the state of the art in floating offshore wind and demonstrate the immense potential for harnessing wind energy in deep water in a European and global context to stakeholders at multiple levels. We will be actively coordinating with a number of other wind energy projects, companies and research institutions both in Europe and abroad to enable synergies and ensure that our impact is maximised. We would be delighted to hear from you and to have you join us on this journey.
