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Universal Foundation ‘Suction Bucket’ to Be Tested this Summer
12.06.14The Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) is joining forces with Statkraft, Statoil, EON, DONG Energy and Universal Foundation, in close co-operation with Aalborg University, to undertake installation trials of the Universal Foundation ‘suction bucket’ offshore wind foundation.
Such innovative foundation designs alone have the potential to reduce the capital costs of offshore wind energy by up to £1bn over the next decade and reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind farms by 10%.
The £6.5m joint industry trial will be executed in Q3 this year, and will see installation of the Universal Foundation ‘suction bucket’ together with a reference bucket at a number of different locations at the sites of three planned major offshore wind farms in the North Sea. The foundations will be installed at each site, then withdrawn and moved onto the next site for testing.
Universal Foundation has teamed up with Fred. Olsen Windcarrier to perform the trials at sites with differing soil conditions to determine the potential range of use for the new foundation which is quicker to install and requires less steel than conventional monopile foundations.
Source:Offshore Wind.biz
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