Gazelle Wind Power crew members, media, and wind business representatives witnessed Gazelle platform mannequin basin testing in Spain. [Photo: Gazelle Wind Power]
Dublin, Ireland, headquartered floating offshore wind platform designer Gazelle Wind Power experiences that mannequin basin exams have verified the viability of its platform idea.
Gazelle, which opened a U.S. workplace earlier this yr says it “reinvented the floating wind platform to be lighter, flexible, and more stable” with a platform design that could be a hybrid of semi-submersible and stress leg platform designs. According to the corporate, it’s lighter than standard platforms, makes use of roughly 70% much less metal and is one-third the burden of different floating platforms. It is designed to have a tilt of lower than 1 diploma and to have 80% much less mooring stress load than stress leg platforms.
The mannequin basin exams have been carried out on the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria (IHCantabria) in Spain. The check report, witnessed by DNV and Safier Ingenierie, verified the feasibility of the Gazelle platform’s idea in a variety of circumstances. A prototype mannequin of the platform was analyzed by quite a lot of assessments together with surge and yaw excitation exams, wind alone exams, wave alone exams, decay exams, and extra.
“The test serves to further validate our technology—which is key to ultimately reaching commercialization and unlocking the full potential of offshore wind,” mentioned Gazelle Wind Power CTO Jason Wormald. “These tests show that our platform will serve as a vital piece of the energy transition that will center around decarbonization, independence, and security.”
The fundamental outcomes from the exams have been based mostly on a ten MW floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT). The firm says the exams confirmed Gazelle’s fundamental ideas—together with the principle bodily ideas behind the Gazelle Wind Power platform design.
The exams additionally reaffirmed that the Gazelle platform has considerably diminished pitch motions even in excessive sea circumstances. The knowledge collected from the varied exams will likely be used to create a benchmarking database which would be the foundation of the subsequent section of the design loop together with Safier Ingenierie.
