Performance

WindFloat® platforms achieve stability via a combination of water plane area (footprint), draft, and column diameter. The designs are scalable to accommodate the largest offshore wind turbines, efficiently managing loads with a minimum increase in structural mass.

The WindFloat® portfolio leverages Principle Power’s unparalleled operational track-record and includes four complementary 4th generation designs that offer developers industrialized, FEED-ready solutions for any floating wind project, with any metocean condition, any wind turbine model, and any supply chain preference.

WindFloat® platforms have an adjustable draft and can be designed for wind turbine integration in most ports. Pontoon-based designs are suitable for ultra-shallow wind turbine integration in ports as shallow as 8 meters. The additional buoyancy of pontoon-based designs minimizes column diameter and footprint, creating more options within established supply chains.

Perimeter column design – WindFloat T and WindFloat F – are optimized for wind turbines that use soft-stiff towers and center column designs - WindFloat TC and WindFloat FC – are for wind turbines that use stiff-stiff towers. Both perimeter column and center column products are available in tubular and flat panel construction methods, ensuring compatibility with existing supply chains.

The WindFloat® portfolio designs have ballast located at the bottom of each column, allowing lower draft for installation at various ports and larger draft for increased stability in operations.

Principle Power’s patented Smart Hull Trim System consists of a robust and fully redundant ballast system that moves water from column to column to compensate for changes in average wind velocity and direction, keeping the tower’s mean pitch angle at zero degrees.

The system is entirely closed loop, meaning no water is exchanged between the platform and the environment. Compared to fully passive semi-submersibles, WindFloat® optimizes power output and reduces structural loads during operation.

The Smart Hull Trim System has demonstrated gross Annual Energy Production (AEP) gains between 1.0-2.5% across our global project portfolio, enabling significant savings in steel weight, and reducing loads on wind turbine components.

The system learns from real-world operational experience for continuous improvement, boosting revenue generation over the course of the 25+ year project lifetime.

While all WindFloat solutions are designed for exceptional dynamic stability, patented damping plates fitted at the bottom of each column on the WindFloat T and WindFloat TC minimize wave and turbine induced motion, enabling the platform to stay light while performing as if it was a much larger structure (hydrodynamic added mass). The WindFloat F and WindFloat FC achieve this same level of stability and performance through pontoon structures fitted between each of the three columns.