Video: Saitec and RWE’s Spanish floating offshore wind pilot sets sail

The 2MW DemoSATH DemoSATH (2MW) OffshoreBasque Country, Spain, Europe Click to see full details floating offshore wind pilot is due to be installed later this summer.

During the next months, the submarine dynamic cable will be deployed at the installation site and the floating platform will be towed out to be connected to it. The platform will also be connected to the mooring lines that were installed in April.

Saitec’s platform features two cylindrical and horizontal hulls with conical edges braced by a concrete frame. It can align itself around a single point of mooring, according to the direction of the wind and waves, Saitec explained – giving the platform its ‘swinging around the hull’ name.

The platform was launched into the Bay of Biscay today (20 July).

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First, the unit was loaded onto the semi-submersible barge’s deck by self-propelled modular transporters. The barge was then ballasted lower into the water until the floating platform became buoyant. The DemoSATH was then towed off

It took less than 45 minutes to berth the DemoSATH wind turbine at the quay, according to Araceli Martinez, Saitec’s chief engineer.

The floating platform is due to be installed at the Bimep test field 3km off the Basquec coast in water depths of 85 metres

The DemoSATH project is now ready to become the first floating wind turbine to be connected to the mainland Spanish grid in the coming months.

Saitec and RWE hope to test the technology for its industrialisation for offshore wind farms in deep waters.