World's first offshore wind turbine starts testing

World Wide Wind (WWW), which has developed a new design for offshore floating wind turbines, has contracted AF Gruppen (AFG), a Norwegian engineering and construction company, to test the first WWW prototype at the AF shipyard in Vats on the south-west coast of Norway.

The 30kW prototype turbine, with an overall length of 19 metres, will demonstrate key elements of the WWW design. These elements include two sets of blades pivoting on a vertical axis, a generator located at the bottom of the structure, and the capacity of the turbine to tilt with the wind, similar to a sailboat.

In addition, the design can accept wind energy from all directions, eliminating the need for the heavy gearing required to turn a turbine to face into the wind.

Following the prototype, the next phase includes a 1.2 MW pilot set to be tested in early 2025. WWW aims to launch a commercial 24 MW turbine before 2030. Furthermore, WWW's design allows turbines to be scaled beyond 40 MW.