Intelligent Mooring System undergoing demonstration tests at the University of Exeter Dynamic Marine Component Test Facility

Exeter’s Ocean Technology Group selected to receive Scottish Government support for Floating Offshore Wind innovation

An engineering research team at the University of Exeter’s Offshore Renewable Energy Group will carry out research into innovative mooring systems for floating offshore wind energy applications.

For the announced innovation project ‘Development and Testing of IMS Mooring System for Floating Wind’ Exeter will partner with Intelligent Mooring Systems to tailor and test a new pressure-based dampener which sits between the platform and mooring line to reduce the load on floating platforms.

The project is one of eight winners of a technology acceleration competition, funded by the Scottish Government and run by the Carbon Trust’s Floating Wind Joint Industry Project (Floating Wind JIP).The competition was designed to address four key industry challenge areas identified in Phase 1 of the Floating Wind JIP: monitoring and inspection, mooring systems, heavy lift maintenance and tow to port maintenance. The eight technologies will receive a share of £1 million from the Scottish Government, in addition to support from the 14 leading offshore wind developers represented in the Floating Wind JIP.

The project is building on a previous UKRI-funded  design, feasibility and demonstration project (Project Number 103889), which took the technology from Technology Readiness Level 2 (Technology concept formulated) to Technology Readiness Level 4 (Technology validated in the lab).

Prof Philipp Thies, Principal Investigator for the project commented:

“This is an exciting project at the forefront of floating offshore wind development. The work will demonstrate this innovative mooring technology for relevant floating offshore wind designs and environments in order to de-risk and enable the subsequent system prototype demonstration for actual field installations.”

Date: 16 March 2020