Integrated Implementation of Industrial Innovations for Offshore Wind Cost Reduction

Led by market leader Siemens Gamesa, drawing on best-in-class partners covering the full value chain of offshore wind energy, i4Offshore will demonstrate the break-down of cost-barriers of large-scale offshore developments. At a commercial, challenging, farshore, deepwater Vattenfall site, a highly innovative offshore system solution featuring a Siemens Gamesa next-generation direct drive wind turbine, a hybrid-material gravity jacket foundation that is optimised for low cost manufacturing, and new very-low-cost array cable-in-pipe solution will be installed and operated as a full size demonstrator during the project. The project is much more than a technology demonstration. i4Offshore combines the technological advances with deep but targeted study of holistic concepts for leaner manufacturing, onshore and offshore transport of components for full scale operation, innovative strategies for operation and maintenance as well as for offshore logistics and installation. The mitigation of bottlenecks in the value chain will be given special attention. Reduction of cost is the paramount concern across all stages of the offshore wind manufacturing, construction, installation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning process, whilst safeguarding the highest standards of health, safety and ennvironment. Enabled by the innovative concepts for manufacturing, logistics, installation, and O&M, validated data from the installed and operated wind turbine system will validate the commercial viability of implementing GW-sized offfshore wind farm consisting of the i4Offshore field-proven solution. The new offshore solution will consist of new, modularized components which allow leaner, faster, more reliable and much more cost-efficient logistics in the transportation, handling, installation and O&M phases of future commercial project development. i4Offshore will deliver innovative, reliable and robust solutions to reducing LCoE to 80€/MWh at highly challenging sites before 2025.
The project is supported by EU Horizon 2020 programme, grant agreement ID: 818153.