INFLOW · INdustrialization setup of a FLoating Offshore Wind turbine

The INdustrialization setup of a FLoating Offshore Wind turbine (INFLOW) project participates to the development of an innovative solution for the offshore wind market. The main role of the project will be to demonstrate the cost competitiveness of the solution and to bridge the gap in between the development and industrialization phases of the technology. The development started with the validation of the new technology back in 2009, with the first 35kW onshore prototype. It will finish with the first phase of industrialization in which a 26MW commercial wind farm composed by 13 turbines will be constructed.In brief, INFLOW objectives are: (i) to optimize the prototype developed in the previous phases and (ii) to manage all aspects required to initiate a viable industrialisation phase, in order to launch a 26 MW wind farm and to develop even larger farms in the future (150 MW by 2018). It has to be stressed that the INFLOW project will rely upon the results of the first deep offshore wind turbine prototype of the VERTIWIND project. The blades and the arm profiles of the turbine along with arm to blade and arm to mast connections will be optimized based on the test feedback of VERTIWIND. The floater concept and design will be upgraded considering more cost effective solutions for a large-scale replication. Consequently the technology during the timeframe of INFLOW will be out of the prototype phase, and due the maturity reached should be considered as pre-commercial.