Your settings for cookies and pixels on rwe.com

Select which cookies and pixels we are allowed to use. Please note that some cookies are necessary for technical reasons and must be enabled in order to maintain the functionality of our website. If you would like to benefit from every service on our website, please consider that you need to choose every cookie category. For more information, please refer to our Data Protection Information.

    • Maintain the stability of the website.
    • Save your log-in data.
    • Allow to improve the user experience.
    • They provide advertisements that are relevant to your interests.
    • They allow you to share interesting content directly with your social media network.

You can change your cookie and pixel settings on rwe.com at any time via our Data Protection Information.

Imprint

Show Details
Select all Confirm selection

Diving into the world of Floating Wind

Welcome to our virtual classroom.

RWE Image RWE Image

Why Floating Wind

The world needs to significantly increase the amount of renewable energy that it generates.

However, in many regions, the coastal water depths are too great for the deployment of seabed-fixed offshore wind. This is where floating wind is important, as it can be deployed in much greater water depths.

But what is floating wind and how does it work? Those are the questions this page aims to answer. You can also find out more about RWE’s floating wind projects here and if you have any further questions please get in touch here.

What is floating wind?

Floating wind is a method of generating clean renewable energy from the wind out at sea. It uses a similar technology to conventional offshore wind turbines that are installed today.

However, whereas those are fixed to the sea-bed, these offshore turbines are secured on top of a floating foundation. These foundations provide buoyancy and stability and come in various designs suited for different locations.

If you are new to floating wind, watch this animation to understand the basics!

How do they float?

A floating foundation and turbine weighs thousands of tonnes but always needs to be up-right and buoyant. There are generally five ‘types’ of foundations which are in use:

  1. Spar Buoy
  2. Suspended Counter-weight
  3. Barge
  4. Semi-submersible and
  5. Tension Leg Platform.

You want to know how they float (and don’t fall over)? You'll get all answers in our animation.

How do they stay in place?

We don’t want our turbines drifting away from our site, so we have to make sure they stay in place. Floating turbines are kept in place using a 'station-keeping system', which is made up of mooring lines and anchors.

A lot of the technology that will be used in floating wind station keeping has a long history of use in the shipping and oil and gas industries. As such, there is already significant amounts of experience and expertise, although floating wind will present its own specific challenges that need to the addressed. 

Find out more about how we do it by watching our animation.

How are floating wind projects built?

It takes a lot of planning and work to build a floating wind project.

The floating foundations are largely made of steel or concrete and are usually fabricated and assembled on the quay site of large ports using heavy lift machinery and cranes whilst the parts of the wind turbine are usually manufactured elsewhere and shipped to the port.

Find out the main steps involved in the video.


You might also be interested in

Floating Offshore Wind

Competitive power generation from deep waters

Read more

Wind power

New wind power projects for global growth.

Read more

Hydrogen project development

RWE is a leader in project development on new H2 technologies.

To our projects

Battery storage system research

As a driver of the energy transition, RWE is researching and developing the use of battery storages.

To our projects

Image credits: TetraSpar Demonstrator ApS 

RWE Image RWE Image
RWE Image
CON01-floating-offshore

Floating Offshore Wind

Questions on this topic

 

We are happy to answer your questions about Floating Offshore Wind and our projects.

RWE Image
CON01-chris-willow

Chris Willow

Head of Floating Wind Development

 

I'm happy to answer your questions about Floating Offshore Wind and our projects.