With the increasing global demand for renewable energy, offshore wind power has become one of the most promising energy solutions. Compared with onshore wind power, offshore wind energy is more abundant and stable, therefore, the development of offshore wind power has become a trend in recent years. However, traditional fixed foundation structures are difficult to apply in deep sea or complex seabed conditions. As a result, floating offshore wind power technology has emerged.

Floating offshore wind power is an innovative technology that uses flexible anchors, chains, or steel cables to anchor wind power foundations to the seabed. This technology is suitable for very deep or complex terrains, breaking the geographical limitations of traditional wind power. More importantly, floating wind power has opened up new avenues for the development of deep-sea wind energy, providing greater possibilities for renewable energy development worldwide.

Deep sea offshore wind power includes two modes:

One type of project is a fixed offshore wind power development model that is suitable due to its long offshore distance but shallow water depth. For example, most of the offshore wind power projects planned by Tangshan City are located in waters 50-100 kilometers offshore, but the water depth is generally within 30 meters.

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Another type is in areas with longer offshore distances and deeper water depths, which may be more suitable for the development of floating offshore wind power. Since 2021, floating offshore wind power has developed rapidly in China.

Floating offshore wind power: expected to become the mainstream structure of deep-sea offshore wind farms

Floating foundations are more suitable for deep and distant seas in terms of cost and technology, and the technology is becoming increasingly mature and entering the stage of large-scale development.

In the development process of deep-sea areas, floating is more suitable than fixed from the perspectives of technology and cost.

Technically, floating foundations are connected to the seabed through mooring systems, freeing them from the constraints of complex seabed topography and geology. Several wind turbine foundations in the same sea area can be made into standard forms with little influence from water depth, which can greatly improve construction efficiency and facilitate operation and maintenance.

In terms of cost, traditional offshore wind power using fixed foundations faces increased technological and economic challenges. The deeper the water depth, the more materials are needed for the fixed offshore wind turbine foundation, resulting in higher production costs and increased construction difficulty compared to standard floating wind turbines.

Floating offshore wind power consists of four subsystems: foundation system, mooring system, cable transmission system, and wind turbine unit system.

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