Evolution of Floating Offshore Wind Platforms: A Review of At-Sea Devices

Using floating platforms to support offshore wind turbines will be necessary for many countries to reach their Net-Zero targets, since much of the wind resource is located at water depths at which fixed offshore wind turbines are uneconomic or technologically unfeasible. However, floating platforms for wind turbines are still at an early stage of development, and there are a wide range of platform designs. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art of floating offshore wind turbine platform designs which currently have or have previously had a prototype, demonstration, or farm scale project at sea. The most common design goals for the platforms and the corresponding design features of platforms used to achieve those goals are reviewed. Past, current and projected future levelized cost of energy values for floating offshore wind are reviewed and discussed. The development of each platform design is described, including evolving design goals and resulting changes in platform features. Finally, overall trends in platform designs are discussed and divided into three phases, defined by changing goals: (i) influences from the offshore oil and gas industry, (ii) specialization to floating offshore wind, and (iii) further specialization to local environment.