TAILWIND project partner SINTEF OCEAN AS recently took part in the EERA DeepWind offshore wind R&I conference in Trondheim, joining more than 250 researchers and industry leaders to exchange the latest results on accelerating offshore wind deployment in Europe. Many discussions reflected two priorities shaping floating offshore wind today: cutting costs while raising sustainability ambitions. A close connection to TAILWIND’s work on synthetic mooring lines.

“It was inspiring to attend the DeepWind conference in Trondheim. Presentations and discussions highlighted how both cost reduction and increased sustainability are required for the industry to move forward, which aligns well with the work being done on synthetic mooring lines in TAILWIND” confirmed Stian Stensby Sørum, from SINTEF OCEAN AS

During the opening panel debate, sustainability emerged as a central theme for the sector’s next steps. Across sessions, participants also addressed a key question for floating offshore wind innovation: who carries responsibility for sustainability when new materials and solutions are introduced. Based on the collaboration in TAILWIND, SINTEF is so far seeing industry partners actively stepping up on this responsibility. Keynotes and technical presentations further underlined the potential of synthetic mooring lines as an enabling technology, particularly polyamide (nylon). Speakers highlighted how these solutions can support more cost-efficient mooring systems while also helping reduce emissions, reinforcing the relevance of ongoing work within TAILWIND.

At the conference, the SINTEF team contributed with two presentations and a poster highlighting different sustainability dimensions of synthetic mooring lines. The contributions covered ecotoxicity screening of polymer materials, assessment of recycling options and post-decommissioning value chains for fibre mooring lines, and analysis of how different mooring technologies interact with marine ecosystems.

EERA DeepWind is an offshore wind research and innovation conference yearly held in Trondheim, where research scientists and industry experts share findings and perspectives on strengthening offshore wind deployment in Norway and Europe. The conference is organised in collaboration between the EERA Joint Programme Wind Energy, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and SINTEF. Learn more on the official website.

Photo credits: SINTEF OCEAN AS

January 27, 2026