Hexicon has completed a series of model tests at Maritime Research Institute Netherlands as part of the design work for the company’s TwinWay floating wind demonstration project
Hexicon’s floating foundation has a patented tension leg platform mooring system. The company said the model tests “exhibited the desired results.”
The tests at MARIN were used to determine the performance of the TwinWay concept in a range of conditions, including extreme weather, in which the maximum wave height corresponded to 20 m at full scale, which is equivalent to harsh North Sea conditions. “The mooring line loads did not exceed estimated values,” said Hexicon.
The tests were an important milestone in the development of the TwinWay demonstrator project, which is due to be installed at the Metcentre in Norway by 2023. In May 2021, Hexicon and another as yet unnamed floating wind developer acquired options at the METCentre to conduct two demonstration projects for floating offshore wind.
The aim of the TwinWay pilot project is to progress the commercialisation of new offshore floating wind technology. The full-scale platform used in the demo will have two large, multi-megawatt turbines installed on it.
Hexicon chief executive Marcus Thor said, “The tests at MARIN were successful and Hexicon’s floating foundation and mooring system behaved as they should when exposed to harsh environmental conditions.
“As a next step, the data collected during the tests will be processed and compared to results from calculation models.”
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