The Norwegian company World Wide Wind AS (WWW) which is developing a new design for offshore floating wind turbines, and AF Gruppen (AFG), the second largest Norwegian engineering and construction company, have agreed to test the first WWW prototype at the AF yard at Vats on the South West coast of Norway.
“We are very proud to test our first prototype in cooperation with AF Gruppen and look forward to the launch and subsequent test program, as well as exploring further opportunities for collaboration. We very much appreciate the support we have received from the AF team so far and are very grateful that they are letting us use their yard at Vats for the test,” says Bjørn Simonsen, CEO of WWW.
The 30kW prototype turbine has a total length of 19 meters and will demonstrate the main innovative elements of the WWW design, such as two counter-rotating blade sets on a vertical axis, generator placed in the bottom of the structure, and allowing the turbine to tilt with the wind like a sailboat.
“We are pleased to support WWW with their first prototypes of a new and innovative design for offshore floating wind turbines. By supporting a company such as WWW, we get unique possibility to demonstrate our capabilities to provide services to the offshore wind market at our facilities in Vats,”
says Lars Myhre Hjelmeset, Executive Vice President Offshore in AF Gruppen.
“AF Gruppen will continue to facilitate solutions for cost-effective production of foundations and assembly of wind turbines at Vats and other facilities. As one of Norway’s largest construction and industrial groups, we want to use our expertise and industrial experience to actively contribute to the development of the offshore wind market,” he continues.
The next step after the prototype is a 1,2MW pilot scheduled to be tested early 2025, and WWW targets launching a commercial 24 MW turbine before 2030. The unique WWW design allows for the turbines to be scaled beyond 40MW.
«Offshore floating wind is about to become a significant contributor to the global renewable energy mix, but to truly unlock its potential we need to develop sustainable and cost-efficient floating wind turbine solutions - not simply move land-based turbines offshore. Our turbines are especially designed for floating operations,” concludes Simonsen.