Saitec Engineering is launching its first offshore wind medium-scale prototype of its floating platform BlueSATH. The project is scheduled to go online during the first quarter of 2020 at sea close to Santander (Spain) for a 12 months period after which the prototype will be completely decommissioned.Testing will take place in real sea environment with the deployment of a 1:6 scaled prototype of a 10MW wind turbine using SATH floating technology, acronym of Swinging Around Twin Hull, which has been validated in several water tank tests since 2014. The main objectives of BlueSATH project cover SATH platform validation of its response and dynamic behavior. The aim is to obtain models that allow for structural optimisation, enabling cost reduction and validating structural turbine integrity. Additionally, the variables which better predict damage on different structure elements would be identified so the structural life cycle can be appropriately forecasted through a series of sensors. Furthermore, demonstrator’s logistic and transport challenges and risks would be monitored in the course of its transport from manufacturing/assembly setting to its final operation location. The obtained results and findings will be applied in the following real-scale model (2MW), to be installed on the Basque Marine Energy Platform (BIMEP) in 2021.
