Floating Platform for Cost-effective Airborne Wind Energy Offshore

The offshore wind deployment pipeline in the US as planned is sufficient to reach the National Offshore Wind Energy Target of 30GW by 2030, but comparatively high costs, supply chain bottlenecks, and the lack of specialized infrastructure present significant barriers to success. A recent report published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory suggests that offshore wind deployment is likely to fall short of that target by over 50%, and that project delays are likely to compound over time beyond 2030. These three challenges are inherently linked to the increasingly large traditional turbines that dominate the offshore wind industry today, but incremental improvements supporting the incumbent technology may not be sufficient to overcome these barriers.Airborne Wind Energy is an emerging technology that can harness wind energy resources cost-effectively by using dramatically less material, and without relying on the custom ships and ports that are required to install traditional turbines. This proposal will design a floating platform and anchoring and mooring system to enables Airborne Wind Energy technology in the offshore environment.Initial design work on a variety of concepts has already been conducted. Work during phase I will investigate the most promising designs by conducting feasibility studies on each one, evaluating them against industry standard specifications, and building preliminary cost models. The output of Phase I will be a strong conceptual design supportive of cost and performance targets, which will be the subject of a detailed design effort to be conducted in Phase II.This technology has the potential to deliver wind energy capacity using 90% less steel, 93% less carbon fiber and 96% less Rare Earth Magnets than traditional turbines. The long-term value proposition is to increase offshore wind adoption by producing lower cost electricity and expanding the market by capturing wind energy potential at sites current technology cannot economically or physically access.