MADRID, Spain — The Sener-led DECIMAP project will receive a grant of EUR700,000 (US$749,000) from the Strategic Plan for the Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) of the Spanish marine sector.
DECIMAP, part of Navantia’s INNCODIS incubator program, is a EUR2.9 million (US$3.10 million) development that aims to deliver a new floating foundation for offshore wind turbines of more than 15 MW capacity.
It is based around the HiveWind semisubmersible floating steel platform concept that Sener and Nervión Naval-Offshore devised for offshore wind turbines.
HiveWind comprises six low-height columns arranged in a polygon shape, said to facilitate construction and reduce the logistics requirements of the supply chain.
Rectangular struts arranged in a horizontal plane avoid the need for complex connection structures and limiting element reinforcements. These are linked perpendicularly on the flat sides of the columns, again avoiding complex shapes in the connections.
One of the columns, located in the center of one of its sides, connects to the wind turbine tower through a transition piece.
The platform can be adapted to local environmental and metoceanic requirements through use of damping plates located at the base of the buoyancy elements (columns) and the connection struts.
DECIMAP covers various stages of the offshore wind development process: site study and definition of the design conditions, validation of numerical models, design of auxiliary elements, definition of manufacturing and logistics processes, and certification by a classification society.
It will also assess the adaptability of the HiveWind foundation to different sites and high-power commercial turbines.
