First floating wind turbine in Iberia will operate off the Portuguese coast

Friday, 18 February 2011 00:00

The Portuguese power company, EDP, is at the helm of an offshore wind project anticipated to be completed within the next six months. According to sources close to EDP, the project includes the installation of a prototype floating wind turbine to be located in waters off Aguçadoura, in the north of the country. The prototype will have a capacity of five megawatts. After its completion, five more machines will be installed during a second phase of the project. The floating technology, which has been patented under the name WindFloat, belongs to the American engineering firm Principal Power. It consists of a triangular floating structure lying flush with the surface of the sea. A submerged floating column is located under each vertex of the triangle, which will provide stability to the structure and will be anchored to the seabed. A wind turbine tower will then be erected on each of the three points, while a series of water displacement systems will be employed to help maintain its stability.