GE is partnering with Glosten, the developer of the PelaStar tension-leg platform floating wind turbine foundation, as part of an ongoing US research project funded by ARPA-E.
The companies are working together as part of the $4m project, supported through the Aerodynamic Turbines Lighter and Afloat with Nautical Technologies and Integrated Servo-control (ATLANTIS) programme, to design and develop controls to support a 12MW floating offshore wind turbine.
Rogier Blom, the project’s principal investigator, said: “Designing a floating turbine is like putting a bus on a tall pole, making it float and then stabilising it while it interacts with wind and waves. Doing this well is both a design and controls challenge.