A decision making strategy for cost-effective anchoring and mooring design in floating offshore wind systems

Site-specific stationkeeping system optimization is regarded as essential to reduce costs and enhance floating offshore wind turbine power production. However, the selection and design of the anchor system is often overlooked. This study proposes a flexible decision-making strategy to select the most cost-effective anchor at early wind farm design stages, based on a minimum set of input data (seabed type, anchor load angle, and basic mooring line properties) and a bottom-up cost estimation approach. From these parameters, the methodology derives a plausible anchor type, size, and cost. The strategy provides consistent and reasonable size and cost estimates when applied to literature case studies. A review of technical solutions, unit costs, and installation procedures unifies fragmented information from scientific literature and commercial examples. The proposed design method is straightforward to integrate with technological advancements and economic evaluations, and could be extended to other floating offshore applications. Compared to existing alternatives, the proposed strategy relies on a minimal set of input parameters and provides a quantitative basis for selecting the best-performing anchor. It also contributes to advancing stationkeeping system design, cost estimation, and life cycle assessment studies, by enabling selection of more realistic anchor systems without relying solely on designer experience.