The Influence of an Arrangement of an Array of Semi-Submersible Type FOWTs to Their Hydrodynamic Responses

Abstract

The progress of the global warming is one of our key issue should be overcome in the 21st century. We should balance the energy consumption and reduction of exhausting greenhouse effect gas. The wind energy is expected as one of the key technology for utilizing renewable energy. It is said that as for the efficiency of the electric generation, it is better the wider wind farm with larger wind mill. But, as the land space for the extensive wind farm is quite limited, it will be a candidate how to use the vast ocean space for human activity. So, the construction of an offshore wind farm is one of the solution now. To extend the wind farm widely in the ocean the floating wind turbine system becomes an essential technology. Under such background, there are many researches on the floating wind turbine in waves and in wind. And hydrodynamic response of them in waves is one of the major topics. Many of the researches on the hydrodynamic response, however, deal with the motion of a single floating wind turbine. This report deals with the hydrodynamic response of a wind farm which is consisted of semi-submersible wind turbines. In addition, the investigation of how does the arrangement of the array impact on the hydrodynamic response including the motion of the nacelle is also reported. In the last the example of the change of the expected efficiency of the generator by change of the array arrangement in each sea area around Japan are shown.