ELISA/ELICAN is the pilot project of an industrial consortium under the leadership of Spanish engineering and consulting firm ESTEYCO. It combines a temporarily floating foundation and a telescopic tower. During sea transport, the foundation acts as a floating barge and the telescopic tower is retracted to ensure stability during floating.
For installation, the foundation of the support structure is lowered to the seabed and the telescopic tower extended. Within the scope of this project, TÜV SÜD developed a new certification procedure to ensure the safe and reliable use of this innovative support structure.
“We are very pleased about our collaboration,” said Javier Nieto, Offshore Division Manager at ESTEYCO.
The pilot project, which will be ballasted to rest on the seabed and support the WTG during operation, is a pre-stage of the development of a permanently floating foundation.
“The solution developed by ESTEYCO represents a far more cost-effective method for realizing offshore WTGs,” oberved Florian Singer, Project Manager at TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH. “Firstly, the entire structure can be assembled from pre-cast parts in a dry dock, and secondly, transport and installation can be effected without the costly use of special installation vessels and cranes.”
According to Singer, certification of the floating foundation will be completed shortly.
TÜV SÜD has been accredited by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH) for the certification of offshore wind farms and as a certification body for offshore and onshore wind turbines and their components.
