Gazelle finds Chinese partner to help produce floating wind technology that promises major cost cuts
Gazelle says its innovative design can improve performance in the water and reduce the costs of floating wind by 30%
Technology developer Gazelle Wind Power has teamed up with Chinese fabrication company Titan Wind Energy to facilitate the future industrialisation of a design that combines the principles of a tension leg platform with the marine dynamics of a spar to promise significantly lower costs for floating wind.
Gazelle already has a partnership in place with Bysteel, a subsidiary of Braga-based industrial group DST, to fabricate the hull and secondary steel components for a 2MW demonstrator under development in Portugal.
Gazelle has also signalled that it intends to rely heavily on European supply chains, especially in Spain and Portugal, as it moves to the commercialisation of its floater technology.
But the company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Titan Wind "to advance the industrialisation and global deployment" of its floating wind power technology.
Gazelle said its floating wind platform technology will also be optimised to suit Titan Wind's own manufacturing standards, as part of the agreement.
Titan Wind is based in Taicang, China, but already has manufacturing facilities for wind turbine towers and foundations in both Denmark and Germany.
While the collaboration aims to internationalise the company's supply chain, Salazar stressed that the move complements the company's strategy of tapping Iberian supply chain potential, including Spanish regions such as Galicia and Cadiz, where established shipyards and steel manufacturers offer flat panel lines.
"Our pilot project in Portugal, which remains our top priority, will continue to rely heavily on Portuguese and European partners such as DST/Bysteel for the fabrication of the platform," Salazar stated.
"The Titan partnership is designed to enhance our capacity for replication and cost competitiveness in the next phase, as we prepare to deliver projects in Asia and beyond".
Gazelle's technology
Gazelle Wind Power’s naval architecture draws on established offshore technologies, with elements of semi-submersible, spar and barge.
A dynamic mooring system results in a configuration that is analogous to a tension leg platform. Six mooring lines connecting vertically to the hull's outer column arms, sharing three mooring foundations in pair to create a geometry that helps the platform move horizontally and vertically to minimise tilting.
A counterweight suspended below the centre of the hull makes the platform behave more like a spar than a semi-submersible structure in the water. Once connected, the counterweight spreads the load dynamically, reducing mooring tensions.
When the counterweight is retracted, the hull's draft is a fraction of that of conventional spar, meaning developers can include shallow water ports among their options for integration and maintenance sites.
Salazar said the company is now advancing through the next engineering, construction and certification steps and has signed a bilateral agreement with Portugal's Companhia da Energia Oceanica for grid access for the Agucadoura electrical substation.
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