Discover the people behind FLOATECH in our interview series!
Meet Dr. Ing Christian Navid Nayeri from the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) with 5 questions and answers about the project goals, challenges and expected impact.
What are the main goals of FLOATECH?
With FLOATECH we address two goals: first, we intend to reduce the heavy loads acting on floating wind turbines resulting from the combined action of waves, floating structure and wind. By reducing the loads the life time can be extended and the use of material can be optimized. Second, we want to maximize the energy yield of floating wind turbine farms by using smart control methods.
Why is it important to improve Floating Offshore Wind Turbines?
It is obvious that offshore wind farms will play a crucial role in reducing CO2 emissions in the near future. In particular floating wind farms will help to unleash the energy potential of the strong winds of our oceans. However, the maturity of this technology is not sufficiently developed yet, rendering the design uncertainties and the costs too high. New design tools and a better understanding are needed, which take into account the complex interaction of waves, floating structures and wind. There are many ideas on the design of floating structures but it is not clear yet which are the best designs, as comprehensive and efficient design tools are missing.
How are you going to proceed?
In our project consortium we work on new design tools and experimental facilities which allow us to investigate the underlying physics of offshore wind turbines in more detail. With these tools we can develop new control methods which help to reduce the loads and maximize the power extraction. Furthermore, the tool will help us to assess the cost savings obtained by these new control methods.
What will be the added-value of the project?
FLOATECH will help to reduce the costs of floating offshore wind farm technology by providing a new comprehensive design tool and innovative control methods. By this we expect that operators, certification entities and manufactures will increase the speed of wind farm installation so that we can achieve the ambitious goals of CO2 reduction.
As the FLOATECH coordinator, what do you expect from the project?
I expect that FLOATECH will contribute to the advancement of floating offshore wind energy technology by creating a deeper scientific knowledge base. An European network will be established with new collaborations. In the framework of the project many engineers with state of the art floating wind expertise will be trained. By involving relevant stakeholders the outcome of the project will be directly fed into the market. All in all FLOATECH is a big chance to strengthen the leadership of European wind energy technology.
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