Several companies are racing to develop floating wind turbines that can take advantage of stronger and steadier, less turbulent winds farther off shore than the current batch of off-shore turbines can. Perhaps "floating" is a bit of a misnomer as they will all be moored to the sea bed by chains or cables.
A key advantage of using floating wind platforms is that they allow developers access to previously inaccessible waters where there is stronger yet less turbulent winds – helping to reduce the overall cost of wind energy.
Another benefit is that floating platforms can generally be commissioned and assembled at the quayside, without the need for heavy-lift jackup or dynamic positioning (DP) vessels, further reducing the cost and risk of deployment activities.
“Eliminating offshore lifting operations also provides for decreased weather window restrictions on installation,” says Craig Andrus, Senior VP – Europe at Principle Power.
The fact that foundations are not necessary with floating technology also means that piling activities and sea life disturbance can be minimized - greatly reducing negative environmental impacts. Moreover, reduced geotechnical requirements mean that core sampling is only needed to test the seabed ahead of appropriate anchor selection, as opposed to the necessity of core sampling at every pile site.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/05/a-buoyant-future-for-floating-wind-turbines?cmpid=WNL-Friday-May6-2011 Hywind - Statoil ASA
Blue H - Blue H Technologies
WindFloat - Principle Power (a US company)
HiPRwind - publicly-funded by Germany
Other initiatives:
WinFlo - by a French consortium, led by wind power specialist Nass & Wind
Vertiwind - Technip and wind-power startup Nenuphar
WindSea and Sway - "being managed by Norwegian companies"
From the article it looks like Hywind may be the deep water leader: attached to the seabed by a three-point mooring, it can be employed at ocean depths of 120 to 700 meters. Some of the competitors can only be placed in waters up to 50 meters depth.
All of these companies either already have or will soon launch test versions of their floating wind turbines.
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