
W2Power is the innovative and patented solution to the needs of deep-water offshore wind. Developed by EnerOcean, it enables the use of two commercially available offshore wind turbines on a semi-submersible triangular floating platform, with a single point, three-line catenary mooring. W2Power is the first multi turbine floating solution that has successfully completed open sea testing in the World.
W2Power is a cost-efficient floating wind solution that has today the maturity level to be included in planning future floating wind farms. Demonstrated at sea in 2019, in 2023 it successfully completed a full design certification to prove the maturity needed for full-scale floating wind farms. Its carefully focused and engineered design enable the industry’s lowest CapEx per MW and will be pivotal in driving floating wind to commercialisation globally.
W2Power was the first to demonstrate that it is possible to run two turbines as a pair without interference between them and the first use of a single-point mooring for floating wind in the open sea. These ideas were successfully sea tested in the most extreme relative conditions.
For our commercial pipeline, we intend to use a pair of up to twelve-megawatt turbines such as those already on the market today, and in future will be easy to acquire from several wind turbine manufacturers, with competition on price. Single-turbine floaters of comparable rated power will in the future need to bet on 20- or 24-MW machines which today do not exist, not even as prototypes. By necessity, these will not be as reliable and proven as those that have been sold already in significant quantities and tried and tested for years.
W2Power is unique in terms of cost-effective offshore wind development. This is due to its integration of design innovations into a well-matured concept, using proven sub-systems and components. Reduced height and weight result in lower overturning loads on the floater at sea and hence less steel required to stabilize these loads, compared to any floater with a single turbine of equivalent power, even at the harshest met-ocean conditions.
In particular, the low draft and light-weight semisubmersible floater, the use of smaller and lighter turbines at a lower height for the same total power, and passive self-orientation of the single-point mooring contribute decisively to its cost advantage versus competing floating wind technologies. Patent-protected innovations such as the bridge-based, outward-leaning towers allow expanding rotor diameters without proportional increases in floater steel mass, and the self-orientating «platform yaw» keeping both turbines correctly facing the wind. The OpEx is also reduced as the components used are smaller, easier to mobilize and replace. Self-orientation allows the use of closely spaced turbines. With W2Power, turbines do not require the expensive and maintenance intensive yawing system of the turbines and removes the risk of long down times in case of breakage. The net result of the lightweight structure is that it optimises the amount of steel per megawatt of power. The low draft may also allow the use of local ports without going to deeper ones further from the installation point. The lighter wind turbines are cheaper to assemble and may avoid the need to modify harbours and ports, or to deploy large, expensive cranes for installation. The smaller turbines may also avoid height limitations near airports, that will affect larger turbines.