Seattle, Washington-based Principle Power, Inc. signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Energias de Portugal (EDP)(EDPFY.PK) for the phased development of a deep-water offshore wind power project sited off the coast of Portugal using the company’s WindFloat platform.
WindFloat, conceived by Marine Innovation & Technology and owned by Principle Power, is a patent pending floating foundation for offshore wind turbines. The platform is said to dampen wave and turbine induced motion, enabling wind turbines to be sited in previously inaccessible locations where water depth exceeds 50m and wind resources are superior.
The terms of the MOA call for Principle Power and EDP to co-develop a three-phased offshore wind power project. Phase 1 will consist of the fabrication and installation of a single WindFloat for technology demonstration purposes. Following the successful completion and assessment of the demonstration unit, phase 2 and phase 3 will consist of a pre-commercial and commercial deployment respectively.
“Offshore wind is one of our key innovation priorities,” said Antonio Mexia, CEO of EDP, “The development of floating foundations for wind turbines is a pre-requisite to the development of offshore wind farms worldwide, as areas in which the sea bed is less than 50 m deep are scarce and fixed structures in deeper waters are economically not feasible. We believe the Windfloat may be the correct approach to deep-water offshore wind farms.”
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