Floating offshore wind turbines motion analysis and its effect on performance

The ever-increasing electrical energy consumption due to the increasing requirements arising in parallel with the developing technology forces manufacturers and users to seek new and environmentally compatible energy sources. Due to its endless energy potential and continuity, wind energy is frequently preferred worldwide as a renewable energy source for electricity generation. The number and scale of offshore wind farms are increasing due to the fact that the pressure differences in the seas and thus the wind force are higher than the land and due to the climate effects. Since there is neither floating nor fixed offshore wind energy platform and power plant installed in our country yet, it is expected that the study will close this gap in the literature. In this study, floating offshore wind turbine's motion analyzes were carried out at a certain sea depth, under certain environmental and dynamic loads, and the effects of movements on performance were investigated. First, the region between Çanakkale-Gelibolu and Gökçeada was determined as an alternative study area for the floating offshore wind turbine using Geographic Information Systems and Fuzzy-Analitical Hierarchy Process. Then, turbine selection was carried out with the wind data of the region. Fort he platform selection, open-sources platform types and turbines were compared under aerodynamic and hydrodinamic conditions, and LIFES50+ OO Star type semi-submersible platform and 10MW DTU wind turbine are chosen. The platform and turbine coupled dynamic analysis are performed numerically in the alternative work site with FAST package program. Then, the dynamic behavior of platform motion under different operating conditions was examined and results are discussed. Finally, the cost analysis of wind farm that can be instaled in the determined region was carried out with the LCOE method and the suitability of the invesment was discussed.Thus, a pre-feasibility study was performed for offshore wind energy platforms which are on the agenda.