Projects|Department of Ocean Technology,Policy, and Environment Graduate School,The University of Tokyo

Projects

Development of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

NEDO, ”Technology Demonstration Experiment of a Next Generation Floating Offshore Wind Turbine System”
Technology Demonstration Experiment of a Next Generation Floating Offshore Wind Turbine System

Huge wind power resource exists in territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone of Japan. Even in the near-shore region, there is a potential to supply significant amount of ele ctric power in the total demand in Japan. Due to the geographical characteristics of Japan that water depth becomes deeper sharply with distance from the shore, it is necessary to develop floating offshore wind turbines in which the turbines are settled on the floaters which are moored to the seafloor. A floating offshore wind turbine is a system comprised of rotor, floater and mooring, and shows complex coupled behavior in winds, waves, and currents. A system evaluation is important to develop a floating offshore wind turbine with its complex behavior.

The next generation floating offshore wind turbine system project initiated by NEDO is aiming at the development of the novel floating wind turbine system for further improvement of economy, as well as safety analysis such as risk assessment.

Figure 1 Conceptual image of barge-type floating offshore wind turbine

Figure 2 Conceptual image of ship drifting in floating offshore wind farm