A new floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Northern Portugal, known as the WindFloat Atlantic (WFA) project is set to go-ahead following an agreement between partner companies.
The project, located 20 km off the Portuguese coast at Viana do Castelo, is planned to be operational in 2018 and will consist of up to four wind turbines on floating foundations, accounting for a total capacity of 25 MW.
The partners include Portugal’s EDP Renewables (EDPR), Mitsubishi, Chiyoda Corporation (through its subsidiary Chiyoda Generating Europe), Engie and Repsol.
WFA is supported by the European Commission, through the NER 300 program, the Portuguese Government and by the European Investment Bank.
The consortium will use the WindFloat technology, a semi-submersible foundation developed by Principle Power.
This technology was already implemented in a first of its kind prototype called WindFloat 1 near Póvoa do Varzim. It comprises 2 MW Vestas V80 commercial wind turbine mounted on a WindFloat floating offshore wind turbine foundation.
The prototype has already produced more than 16 GWh over almost four years of operation and has performed in extreme weather conditions.
Its successful results have been key for the creation of this consortium and the launch of the WindFloat Atlantic project, the aim of which is to demonstrate the economic potential and reliability of this technology, advancing it further in the path towards commercialization.
EDPR said: “This project represents a key step forward in establishing the WindFloat technology as a leader in deep water offshore wind power generation.”
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