IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i7p1995-d530195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Concrete Support Structures for Offshore Wind Turbines: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandre Mathern

    (Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sven Hultins Gata 6, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
    Research and Innovation, NCC AB, Lilla Bomen 3c, SE-41104 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Christoph von der Haar

    (grbv Ingenieure im Bauwesen GmbH & Co. KG, Expo Plaza 10, 30539 Hannover, Germany)

  • Steffen Marx

    (Institute of Concrete Structures, Technische Universität Dresden, August-Bebel-Straße 30/30A, 01219 Dresden, Germany)

Abstract

Today’s offshore wind turbine support structures market is largely dominated by steel structures, since steel monopiles account for the vast majority of installations in the last decade and new types of multi-leg steel structures have been developed in recent years. However, as wind turbines become bigger, and potential sites for offshore wind farms are located in ever deeper waters and ever further from the shore, the conditions for the design, transport, and installation of support structures are changing. In light of these facts, this paper identifies and categorizes the challenges and future trends related to the use of concrete for support structures of future offshore wind projects. To do so, recent advances and technologies still under development for both bottom-fixed and floating concrete support structures have been reviewed. It was found that these new developments meet the challenges associated with the use of concrete support structures, as they will allow the production costs to be lowered and transport and installation to be facilitated. New technologies for concrete support structures used at medium and great water depths are also being developed and are expected to become more common in future offshore wind installations. Therefore, the new developments identified in this paper show the likelihood of an increase in the use of concrete support structures in future offshore wind farms. These developments also indicate that the complexity of future support structures will increase due to the development of hybrid structures combining steel and concrete. These evolutions call for new knowledge and technical know-how in order to allow reliable structures to be built and risk-free offshore installation to be executed.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandre Mathern & Christoph von der Haar & Steffen Marx, 2021. "Concrete Support Structures for Offshore Wind Turbines: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Trends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-31, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:7:p:1995-:d:530195
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/7/1995/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/7/1995/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Koh, J.H. & Ng, E.Y.K., 2016. "Downwind offshore wind turbines: Opportunities, trends and technical challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 797-808.
    2. Hongyan Ding & Zuntao Feng & Puyang Zhang & Conghuan Le & Yaohua Guo, 2020. "Floating Performance of a Composite Bucket Foundation with an Offshore Wind Tower during Transportation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Bento, Nuno & Fontes, Margarida, 2019. "Emergence of floating offshore wind energy: Technology and industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 66-82.
    4. Oh, Ki-Yong & Nam, Woochul & Ryu, Moo Sung & Kim, Ji-Young & Epureanu, Bogdan I., 2018. "A review of foundations of offshore wind energy convertors: Current status and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 16-36.
    5. Igwemezie, Victor & Mehmanparast, Ali & Kolios, Athanasios, 2019. "Current trend in offshore wind energy sector and material requirements for fatigue resistance improvement in large wind turbine support structures – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 181-196.
    6. Jijian Lian & Pengwen Wang & Conghuan Le & Xiaofeng Dong & Xu Yang & Qi Jiang & Yilin Yang & Junni Jiang, 2019. "Reliability Analysis on One-Step Overall Transportation of Composite Bucket Foundation for Offshore Wind Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Willis, D.J. & Niezrecki, C. & Kuchma, D. & Hines, E. & Arwade, S.R. & Barthelmie, R.J. & DiPaola, M. & Drane, P.J. & Hansen, C.J. & Inalpolat, M. & Mack, J.H. & Myers, A.T. & Rotea, M., 2018. "Wind energy research: State-of-the-art and future research directions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 133-154.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Moussavi, S. & Barutha, P. & Dvorak, B., 2023. "Environmental life cycle assessment of a novel offshore wind energy design project: A United States based case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    2. Meng, Debiao & Yang, Shiyuan & Jesus, Abílio M.P. de & Zhu, Shun-Peng, 2023. "A novel Kriging-model-assisted reliability-based multidisciplinary design optimization strategy and its application in the offshore wind turbine tower," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 407-420.
    3. Yunsup Shin & Thomas Langford & Kyunghwan Cho & Jongheon Park & Junyoung Ko, 2021. "Applicability of Concrete–Steel Composite Piles for Offshore Wind Foundations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Małgorzata Jastrzębska, 2022. "Installation’s Conception in the Field of Renewable Energy Sources for the Needs of the Silesian Botanical Garden," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.
    5. Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "Pathways to low carbon energy transition through multi criteria assessment of offshore wind energy barriers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yunsup Shin & Thomas Langford & Kyunghwan Cho & Jongheon Park & Junyoung Ko, 2021. "Applicability of Concrete–Steel Composite Piles for Offshore Wind Foundations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Jian Zhang & Guo-Kai Yuan & Songye Zhu & Quan Gu & Shitang Ke & Jinghua Lin, 2022. "Seismic Analysis of 10 MW Offshore Wind Turbine with Large-Diameter Monopile in Consideration of Seabed Liquefaction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Jijian Lian & Yue Zhao & Chong Lian & Haijun Wang & Xiaofeng Dong & Qi Jiang & Huan Zhou & Junni Jiang, 2018. "Application of an Eddy Current-Tuned Mass Damper to Vibration Mitigation of Offshore Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Wang, L. & Kolios, A. & Liu, X. & Venetsanos, D. & Rui, C., 2022. "Reliability of offshore wind turbine support structures: A state-of-the-art review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Lin, Kun & Xiao, Shaohui & Zhou, Annan & Liu, Hongjun, 2020. "Experimental study on long-term performance of monopile-supported wind turbines (MWTs) in sand by using wind tunnel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 1199-1214.
    6. Subbulakshmi, A. & Verma, Mohit & Keerthana, M. & Sasmal, Saptarshi & Harikrishna, P. & Kapuria, Santosh, 2022. "Recent advances in experimental and numerical methods for dynamic analysis of floating offshore wind turbines — An integrated review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    7. d'Amore-Domenech, Rafael & Leo, Teresa J. & Pollet, Bruno G., 2021. "Bulk power transmission at sea: Life cycle cost comparison of electricity and hydrogen as energy vectors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    8. Francisco Haces-Fernandez, 2020. "GoWInD: Wind Energy Spatiotemporal Assessment and Characterization of End-of-Life Activities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    9. Nam, Woochul & Oh, Ki-Yong & Epureanu, Bogdan I., 2019. "Evolution of the dynamic response and its effects on the serviceability of offshore wind turbines with stochastic loads and soil degradation," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 151-163.
    10. Jiandong Xiao & Junfeng Liu & Yifeng Lin & Puyang Zhang & Yang Gao, 2023. "Analysis of Regular Wave Floating Characteristics of Mono-Column Composite Bucket Foundation during Towing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, June.
    11. Wang, Xinbao & Cai, Chang & Cai, Shang-Gui & Wang, Tengyuan & Wang, Zekun & Song, Juanjuan & Rong, Xiaomin & Li, Qing'an, 2023. "A review of aerodynamic and wake characteristics of floating offshore wind turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    12. Rezaeiha, Abdolrahim & Micallef, Daniel, 2021. "Wake interactions of two tandem floating offshore wind turbines: CFD analysis using actuator disc model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 859-876.
    13. Sofia Spyridonidou & Dimitra G. Vagiona, 2020. "Systematic Review of Site-Selection Processes in Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Research," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-26, November.
    14. Jijian Lian & Ou Cai & Xiaofeng Dong & Qi Jiang & Yue Zhao, 2019. "Health Monitoring and Safety Evaluation of the Offshore Wind Turbine Structure: A Review and Discussion of Future Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-29, January.
    15. Weiss, Daniel & Nemeczek, Fabian, 2021. "A text-based monitoring tool for the legitimacy and guidance of technological innovation systems," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Zhicheng Lin & Song Zheng & Zhicheng Chen & Rong Zheng & Wang Zhang, 2019. "Application Research of the Parallel System Theory and the Data Engine Approach in Wind Energy Conversion System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Li, Chen & Mogollón, José M. & Tukker, Arnold & Dong, Jianning & von Terzi, Dominic & Zhang, Chunbo & Steubing, Bernhard, 2022. "Future material requirements for global sustainable offshore wind energy development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    18. Christoffer Hallgren & Johan Arnqvist & Stefan Ivanell & Heiner Körnich & Ville Vakkari & Erik Sahlée, 2020. "Looking for an Offshore Low-Level Jet Champion among Recent Reanalyses: A Tight Race over the Baltic Sea," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-26, July.
    19. Alessio Castorrini & Paolo Venturini & Aldo Bonfiglioli, 2022. "Generation of Surface Maps of Erosion Resistance for Wind Turbine Blades under Rain Flows," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-14, August.
    20. Papi, F. & Bianchini, A., 2022. "Technical challenges in floating offshore wind turbine upscaling: A critical analysis based on the NREL 5 MW and IEA 15 MW Reference Turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:7:p:1995-:d:530195. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.