DNV has awarded Odfjell Oceanwind an Approval in Principle (AiP) for their new Deepsea Semi™ floating wind foundation design. The Deepsea Semi™ floating wind foundation design has been developed for use in floating wind farms and for off-grid applications including temporary electrification of oil and gas installations in harsh environments.
The Deepsea Semi™ foundation is dimensioned for up to 15MW wind turbine generators and has been developed for low cost, industrial mass-production. The design basis includes all areas for floating wind farms currently in planning in the North Atlantic region, including Scotwind and Utsira Nord, and covers a range of 60 to 1300 meters water depth. It is optimised for Siemens Gamesa’s SG 11.0-200DD and SG 14.0-222DD offshore wind turbines and is undergoing classification and certification from DNV on that basis. The AiP is part of this ongoing class approval process involving Odfjell Oceanwind, Siemens Gamesa and DNV.
The proprietary Deepsea Semi™ design has been developed for use in Odfjell Oceanwind’s fleet of Mobile Offshore Wind Units (MOWUs) by their in-house design team. Odfjell Oceanwind plans to order the first batch of MOWUs later in 2022, with a plan of going into operation in 2024. The units will be operated as one fleet under Odfjell Oceanwind’s management.
Odfjell Oceanwind intends to build the first MOWUs for electrifying offshore oil and gas installations and will contribute to significant decarbonization of the industry, complementing electrification with power from shore. The Deepsea Semi™ design also allows for an integrated WindGrid™ module, using hybrid technologies and energy storage for uninterrupted power supply to installations not connected to a larger power grid. The WindGrid™ module has been designed and optimised by Siemens Energy based on its experience in Oil and Gas and Grid applications to enable energy storage systems, including the BlueVault™ battery energy storage and BlueDrive™ converters. DNV has previously verified that MOWUs with WindGrid™ may contribute with up to 60-70% reduced emissions compared to power generation from gas turbine generators alone.
An Approval in Principle (AiP) is an independent assessment of a concept within an agreed framework, confirming that the design is feasible, and no significant obstacles exist to prevent the concept from being realized.
DNV in the maritime industry
DNV is the world’s leading classification society and a recognized advisor for the maritime industry.
About Odfjell Oceanwind:
Odfjell Oceanwind is a Norwegian floating wind specialist which develops and operates a fleet of Mobile Offshore Wind Units (MOWUs) with the primary purpose of supplying electricity to “off-grid” consumers, including but not limited to oil & gas installations. The company combines 50 years of experience from operating harsh environment drilling rigs and 20 years experience from inventing and designing floating wind solutions. It has proprietary and patent pending solutions for floating wind and integration of renewable power to O&G platforms. The MOWUs are offered for sale with operation and maintenance agreements, or on a rental basis depending on customer preferences. Odfjell Oceanwind’s floating wind solutions are directly scalable also to service permanent floating wind farms.