The trend of increasing size and weight of offshore wind turbines has greatly reduced the number of capable installation vessels. This limitation becomes more pronounced in the US where vessel availability is lower and “Jones Act” restrictions are added. Furthermore, using these large vessels is a significant portion of the total installation costs.

ESTEYCO has been awarded $1,098,300 contract by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) to analyse the ELISA substructure technology for the US market, and for large turbines through the use of the IEA 15MW reference turbine. It will show that this support substructure technology is a viable solution to address cost and risk reduction and local content increase, as it allows for full installation of offshore wind turbines with conventional tugboats.

ESTEYCO counts on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as subcontractor to carry out the “Self-installing concrete gravity-base substructure (ELISA technology) sizing for 15MW turbine and holistic approach for its implementation in the U.S.” project, started on October 21th 2021.