Ferrovial has entered the offshore wind industry with a contract to build a floating, prestressed concrete platform with one turbine to be moored two miles off the coast of Vizcaya, in the Spanish Basque Country.
The 30m-by-64m platform, to be tethered to the sea floor at a depth of 85m, is a research project to test new, affordable means of operating offshore wind farms in deep water.
Once completed in a scheduled 14 months, the installation will be Spain’s first grid-connected multi-megawatt floating wind turbine.
It will generate enough electricity to power 2,000 homes and will avoid the emission of 5,100 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, Ferrovial said. Â
The contract is part of the DemoSATH project, headed by RWE Renewables and Saitec Offshore Technologies.
The contract covers site preparation work, producing the precast components, supplying steel panels and assembling the entire platform, as well as managing the supply chain.
SATH technology consists of twin hulls made of modular precast concrete components that are subsequently braced.
At sea, platform swings around a single tether point to face the wind.
RWE and Saitec want to research the construction, operation and maintenance of the unit.
Image: The installation will be Spain’s first grid-connected multi-megawatt floating wind turbine (Supplied by Ferrovial)
