Offshore wind suction bucket on an industrial scale – Part 2 Trial Installation

The project is a continuation of the EUDP-project “Offshore wind suction bucket on an industrial scale”, where a light-weight, coil steel-based suction bucket foundation was developed and labtested. The aim is to demonstrate a modular suction bucket design for various types of offshore wind foundations such as the Siemens Gravity Jacket concept and the Universal Foundation
Monobucket.

In this project, the produced full-scale bucket from the previous project will be subject to an onsite test installation near Frederikshavn in northern Denmark, as installation of a structure with this geometry and innovations from the industrialized bucket project, has never been accomplished. Furthermore, the full-scale bucket will be tested in different seabed conditions.

Objectives are:
1) Conduct preliminary assessments
2) Prepare suction bucket for test installation
3) Demonstrate on-site test installation on different geological conditions
4) Analyze and validate data

Foundation costs of offshore wind, including production and installation, represent 20-30% of the total costs of deploying an offshore wind farm. Lowering costs of foundations is a key element to lower the total Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) for offshore wind. Suction buckets are one of the most promising seabed interfaces technologies in the industry.

The overall goal motivating this project is to reduce the LCoE from offshore wind as a step on the road to achieve price competition with other energy sources.