EU-funded TAILWIND project joined Wind Energy Science Conference 2025, the world’s top wind researchers’ event, in late June. Speaking for the consortium, Azélice Ludot of Denmark’s Technical University (DTU) presented the framework designed for performing reliability-based design optimization (RBDO), with a strong focus on using surrogate modelling to reduce computational time. The optimization targets minimize the cost and environmental footprint of the mooring system while ensuring a robust design.
TAILWIND’s mission is to rethink station-keeping (the mooring lines, anchors and platform layouts that keep turbines on position in deep water) so that floating wind can scale up without scaling its footprint. The team is trialling lighter synthetic ropes paired with taut and semi-taut configurations that minimise seabed contact and make transport easier. However, estimating the probability of mooring line failures, whether due to extreme storms or day-to-day fatigue, is extremely computationally expensive.
The surrogate-based approach used in TAILWIND for performing reliability-based design optimization enables rapid estimates of failure probabilities across evaluated designs: “Floating turbines work in chaotic environments and the cost of mooring failure is enormous,” Ludot explains “Our surrogate models allow us to explore the design space quickly, we can reduce material use and costs while still ensuring that the probability of failure meets industry standards.”
By validating this framework, TAILWIND is pushing the new mooring technology one step closer to commercial pilots, helping floating wind deliver the clean power the world urgently needs. For more detail you can download here the abstract of the presentation held by DTU.
July 15, 2025
