The AMS-FLOW Project

Anchor and Mooring Selection for Floating Offshore Wind

March 2024 -  February 2027

research@windenergyireland.com

What is AMS-FLOW?

Ireland has a huge renewable resource, with some of the best wind speeds in the world, but it also presents designers with uniquely challenging environmental conditions with waves in excess of 30m recorded on Ireland’s west coast. For floating offshore wind to thrive in Ireland two things must coincide; the technology selected must be suitable for the conditions and the overall financial outcome must be competitive in costs and attractive enough to develop. To help the technical challenge AMS-FLOW (Anchor and Mooring Selection for Floating Offshore Wind) offers improvements to metocean characterisation methodologies to ensure a precise understanding of design conditions and advancements in anchor and mooring performance. A techno-economic model and early-stage decision toolkit will help frame this research for the wider industry.

Aims and Objective

The project aims to develop a novel method to quantitatively characterize combined wind and wave conditions using an exemplar FLOW system. It includes designing a cost-effective mooring arrangement that relies less on steel chains by validating fibre/synthetic ropes and load reduction devices to meet required loading resistance. Numerical modelling of emerging anchoring systems, validated by physical modelling, will be conducted, along with parametric studies to design optimal geometries for the best-performing anchors. A techno-economic model of combined mooring and anchor combinations will be created, and the impact of new mooring and anchoring technologies on the broader FLOW project (including installation, vessels, and environment) will be assessed. Finally, an early-stage decision toolkit based on anchor, mooring, and topside results will be developed.