A Method for Comparing and Ranking Floating Offshore Wind Foundation Concepts

Abstract Over 100 different concepts for Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) foundations (or hulls) are currently being offered to the offshore wind industry. Consequently, project developers face difficulty selecting the optimum solution for their project-specific conditions. Moreover, the industry continues to invent and propose new concepts, whilst only a few technologies have so far progressed to, or beyond, the stage of full-scale pilot unit testing offshore. The work described in the paper provides a methodology for comparing and ranking FOW concepts by identifying their strengths and weaknesses for site-specific conditions and project-specific requirements. This is based on the analysis of a selection of key characteristics that have been identified and scored for each available concept.