Layout optimization of floating offshore wind farms with shared anchors

Abstract

The offshore wind energy industry has grown exponentially in recent years, and floating offshore wind turbines is the new frontier of expansion. As floating offshore wind turbines are approaching commercial scale deployment, much research is focused on how to maximize energy production while reducing costs. This thesis will investigate the benefits of using shared anchors in floating wind farm optimization in order to see if such a method can reduce overall costs while still maximizing energy production. Hypothetically, shared anchors can reduce cost by reducing the number of anchors per turbine, as well as the necessary number of sub sea site investigations. However, shared anchors also limit the design space of layout optimization for energy maximization of floating offshore wind farms, as they add constraints on turbine placements. Traditional layout optimization of wind farms seeks to find optimal turbine placement for AEP maximization and wake reduction. This thesis seeks develop a method of optimizing anchor positions of shared anchors by developing a mooring model used to investigate mooring cost models, design space, and constraints when using anchor positions as design variables for layout optimization. When anchor points are used as design variables only indirect control of turbine positions is possible, as nominal turbine position is a function of the station keeping system, which influences the AEP optimization. Shared anchors form different patterns, depending on how many turbines are connected to each anchor. In this thesis two different regular patterns, triagonal and hexagonal patterns are examined, for different layout formations and wind farm sizes, to further investigate the behaviour of shared anchor optimization. Lastly, cable costs are added to the optimization to help identify trade-offs and compare how different anchor patterns and layout formations handle the trade-off between cable costs and AEP.

Cite this

Eagan, Erik. (2022). Layout optimization of floating offshore wind farms with shared anchors.

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Tags: Thesis, Layout Optimization, Floating