Feasibility study of offshore wind turbine substructures for southwest offshore wind farm project in Korea

Korea has huge potential for offshore wind energy and the first Korean offshore wind farm has been initiated off the southwest coast. With increasing water depth, different substructures of the offshore wind turbine, such as the jacket and multipile, are the increasing focus of attention because they appear to be cost-effective. However, these substructures are still in the early stages of development in the offshore wind industry. The aim of the present study was to design a suitable substructure, such as a jacket or multipile, to support a 5 MW wind turbine in 33 m deep water for the Korean Southwest Offshore Wind Farm. This study also aimed to compare the dynamic responses of different substructures including the monopile, jacket and multipile and evaluate their feasibility. We therefore performed an eigenanalysis and a coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation under deterministic and stochastic conditions in the environmental conditions in Korea. The results showed that the designed jacket and multipile substructures, together with the modified monopile, were well located at soft–stiff intervals, where most modern utility-scale wind turbine support structures are designed. The dynamic responses of the different substructures showed that of the three substructures, the performance of the jacket was very good. In addition, considering the simple configuration of the multipile, which results in lower manufacturing cost, this substructure can provide another possible solution for Korean’s first offshore wind farm. This study provides knowledge that can be applied for the deployment of large-scale offshore wind turbines in intermediate water depths in Korea.

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