Mooring Optimisation by Full Lifecycle Assessment

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Floating wind technologies have been proven to be technically viable, with projects such as Kincardine andHywind discussed in the literature review above. However, in order to be commercially viable, the LCOE offloating wind technologies remains too high to compete with traditional fixed-bottom wind. The LCOE ofcurrent FOW projects is estimated at 170 £/MWh [4], compared with an estimated 45 £/MWh for fixed bottomwind [5]. Care should be taken when comparing LCOE for different technologies as it is very sensitive todiscount rate and other assumptions made, FOW is consistently estimated to be around three times moreexpensive than fixed bottom [6]. Fortunately, it is thought that the cost of energy from floating turbines willdecline, following the pattern that was seen with fixed-bottom turbines whose cost fell as both the industryand turbine sizes expanded [7], with the DNV estimating that the LCOE of FOW will decrease by 80% by 2050[8].One area that has been identified for cost-reduction is the mooring system, which can account for over 10%of the costs of a floating array [9] [10]. Although mooring systems have been used previously in offshore O&G,their use in offshore wind presents novel challenges in comparison to production platforms, such as requiringmany more moored platforms per project and each platform needing to withstand a wide range of additionalforces applied to it by the turbine. Standardisation of mooring design and components, the use of novelmaterials, anchor sharing, and the optimisation of arrays and mooring configurations have all been identifiedas cost-reduction opportunities [7].