Development of a Structural Control and Power Generation Device Employing an Inerter Mechanism for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

-Part 1: Concept Design and Evaluation Using a Simple Model-

Abstract

To become carbon neutral, offshore wind energy is getting more attention as a renewable energy source. Although most of the existing offshore wind turbines are built on fixed foundations, they are currently restricted by the water depth. As shallow waters along the coast in Japan are limited, floating offshore wind turbines applicable to water depths of 100 meters or more are considered desirable. Various studies on floating wind turbines have been conducted worldwide, however, the wave-induced vibration and power supply shortage when there is no wind power still remain as important issues to be addressed. In this study, we propose a new concept of a floating wind turbine with the inerter-integrated wave energy converter (WEC) to generate electricity from the wave-induced vibration of the floating body and reduce the oscillation of the wind turbine simultaneously. First, we propose the concept of the floating offshore wind turbine with WEC and a simple model including a rotational inertia mass is derived to verify the effectiveness. Then, the parameters of the inertia mass and electric damping by the motor are investigated to evaluate the power generation efficiency and the structural control performance.