ABOUT

TAILWIND is committed to accelerating the growth of offshore wind energy, contributing to meeting EU and global climate goals for achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Station keeping technology

TAILWIND aims to revolutionise the offshore wind industry through technical innovations in floating offshore wind (FOW) systems.

The project focuses on advancing mooring and anchoring technologies to create more efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions for harnessing wind energy at sea. By characterising lighter synthetic mooring lines and more efficient anchoring systems, TAILWIND leads to an improvement in installation time and a reduction in costs, directly lowering the LCOE (levelized cost of energy).

Mooring lines

TAILWIND is developing a new generation of mooring lines made from both flexible and stiff synthetic fibre ropes as nylon, polyester, aramid and HMPE, which offer significant advantages over conventional steel-based mooring lines.

Traditional spread mooring systems use long, heavy catenary chains, which are inefficient and environmentally adverse. Nylon and polyester’s lower stiffness, instead, enables more compact and less invasive mooring arrangements. For mooring-stabilized platforms, such as the tension leg platform (TLP) and tension leg buoy (TLB), a high material stiffness is required. Here, aramid and HMPE offer lighter alternatives to the traditional steel tendons.

The new synthetic mooring lines support both taut and semi-taut mooring configurations, which reduce footprint on the seabed and improve the resilience and efficiency of the mooring systems. Taut moorings, in particular, provide higher vertical stiffness, which is beneficial for stability and reducing the movement of the floating structures. Additionally, these lines undergo rigorous testing for long-term durability under cyclic loading conditions, ensuring they can withstand harsh marine environments.

By simulating whole-life loading scenarios, the project generates valuable data to refine anchor designs and mooring line interactions. This rigorous testing process ensures that the new technologies meet the highest standards of performance and reliability.

The project aims to reach Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL5) by its conclusion, setting the stage for further advancements and certification.

State of the art
Three lines, generally of steel chain, typically 3-10 times the water depth in length, with a large region of seafloor disturbance.
Tailwind progress
Shorter lines, reduced to 1.5-2 times (semisubmersible or TLB) or equal to the water depth (TLP). Synthetic materials to reduce steel use and seabed impact while diversifying supply chain.

Anchoring system

TAILWIND is advancing the design of anchors to be more efficient and scalable.

Innovative designs, including new shapes and cluster arrangements, maximise the ratio of anchor capacity to material use, thereby reducing the need for large, bulky anchors.

Existing anchors for floating structures require disruptive installation processes and have limitations in multi-directional loading capacities.

The project proposes ‘silentinstallation techniques to minimise environmental impact, focusing on seafloor-level pad-eyes that distribute loads more effectively. These techniques include the use of suction anchors, which are installed with minimal noise and disturbance to marine life. The anchors are also designed to withstand long-term cyclic loading and provide robust performance in multi-directional loading scenarios, essential for shared station-keeping systems and taut moorings.

The design improvements aim to reduce material usage and installation time while enhancing the overall efficiency and reliability of the anchor systems. This includes optimising anchor size and weight to balance performance with ease of deployment and maintenance. TAILWIND employs advanced geotechnical centrifuge modeling to test and validate anchor concepts under realistic conditions.

State of the art
Three large anchors per turbine, which require disruptive installation from large and specialised vessels.
Three anchors per turbine, all independent of other turbines.
Tailwind progress
Higher anchor scalability through new clustering concepts, allowing non-disruptive installation from smaller vessels.
Anchors shared among multiple turbines, with resilience against multi-directional loading from shared station-keeping, reducing levelised cost of energy (LCOE)