Carbon Trust has awarded a contract to SPT Offshore / Wood Group for performing a concept study on the basis of SPT’s self installing wind turbine (SIWT) concept.
The Carbon Trust is a UK initiative to develop innovative foundations for the UK’s third round of offshore wind farms in water depths varying from 30m to 60m. The Carbon Trust is supported by major utility companies, such as RWE, Dong, Scottish Power, StatoilHydro and Airtricity.
The SIWT concept is a non-symmetric tripod structure founded on three suction piles. The two-corner suction piles incorporate ballast weight to suit the stability for lowering and to reduce the tensile loads.
The SIWT is assembled as one unit in the harbour including the mast, nacelle and blades and is transported to the offshore site on the corner of a flat barge. At the site the unit is lowered using strand jacks and the foundation is installed free of noise by suction.