Design Of a Spar Buoy for Offshore Wind Turbines

Offshore wind Energy demonstrated to be one of the most promising technologies for growing electric energy demand worldwide. The main objective of this research was to conceive a floating offshore structure for supporting wind turbines. The Mediterranean Sea is characterized by deep water, especially in the western area, from Italy towards Spain, and this makes floating support structures desirable, since in deep water they are cheaper than bottom fixed piles [1]. An aerodynamic, electric and mechanic model was developed and tested against experimental results of laboratory and wind tunnel tests on a small scale wind turbine, demonstrating its reliability, so it was used to determine actions on the floater and a first concept design was performed using commercial software for marine structures analysis. Further steps in this process will include integration of the turbine model with hydrodynamic calculations, as well flume, tank and open sea tests for the designed floater.