Successful commissioning of WindFloat Atlantic Offshore Wind Farm

The WindFloat Altantic Offshore Wind Farm located 20km off the coast of Viana do Castelo in Portugal is now fully operational. All three floating foundations were connected to the mooring line using First Subsea Platform Mooring Connectors (PMC).

WindFloat Atlantic is owned by the Windplus consortium led by EDP Renováveis with partners Energie SA, Repsol SA and Principle Power Inc. The floating platforms measure 30m in height and 50m between columns and accommodate the worlds largest wind turbines installed on a floating structure of 8.4MW.

Prior to the tow out the anchors and mooring lines can be pre-laid by a standard AHV and taken off the critical path of the project. The PMC is connected to the platform in the yard and held in place using the pull-in messenger line. The tow out of the platform is performed by standard towing craft. The PMC and pull in line are lowered and used to connect the pre-laid mooring lines. The mooring line is pulled up directly from the seabed, tensioned and connected in one operation. The whole installation process has been done to optimise both offshore resources and offshore time, thus reducing the overall cost associated with mooring activities.

“The PMC offers many unique features, such as the ability to connect and provide a storm safe functionality instantly and the ability to be disconnected easily should the platform need to return to port, to name just a couple” said Greg Campbell-Smith, Sales Director, First Subsea.

Released: 30th July 2020