MacArtney Partners with Pacific WindFloat Project
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MacArtney Partners with Pacific WindFloat Project

Renewable energy technology developer Principle Power has been awarded a Department of Energy grant worth USD4 million, and up to USD47 million in total funding, to support its WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project. In that connection, Principle Power has announced the list of official project partners, all marked to deliver an essential contribution to the WindFloat project. MacArtney Underwater Technology is on of the partners of the large-scale project.

The list of project partners also includes: Siemens Wind Power, Houston Offshore Engineering, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, RPS Evan Hamilton, Forristal Ocean Engineering, the American Bureau of Shipping, and Det Norske Veritas.

The project

The WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project is centred around a 30MW floating offshore wind farm, planned to be located approximately 25 kilometres west of Oregon’s Port of Coos Bay.

To date, due to technology and project economics, offshore wind farm locations have been limited to environmentally and stakeholder sensitive shallow inshore waters. However, based on a patented floating foundation for offshore wind turbines, the innovative features of the WindFloat allow turbines to be placed at deepwater locations, out-of-sight from shore where the wind is stronger and more consistent.

Easy Installation

The WindFloat offers considerable economical advantages over traditional offshore wind solutions, since the entire turbine and floating foundation is built and assembled on shore, and installed using conventional tug vessels. This way, the WindFloat is also a more cost-effective, simpler and less risky approach to offshore wind development. A prototype of the WindFloat system has been operating successfully off the coast of Portugal since October 2011. This installation marks the first multi-megawatt offshore wind turbine to be installed without the use of any heavy-lift offshore vessels.

A more elaborate scope of work for the Principle Power project, as well as the scope of involvement by MacArtney Underwater Technology, will be finalised in the coming months. More information will follow upon disclosure. Meanwhile, MacArtney remains confident that its underwater technology and connectivity systems will provide a key contribution to the WindFloat project.

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