The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a provider of classification and technical services to the offshore and marine industries, has completed the design review of the front end engineering and design (FEED) documentation for the VolturnUS, a floating offshore wind turbine developed by the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
The patented VolturnUS is based on a concrete, four-column, semi-submersible hull concept. In 2013, the UMaine team successfully tested the feasibility of the concept by developing a 1:8 scale model and deploying it in Castine, Maine. Maine Aqua Ventus I GP LLC is now leading a full-scale, two-turbine demonstration project called New England Aqua Ventus I, a 12 MW floating offshore wind pilot project off Maine’s shores. The pilot project will demonstrate the VolturnUS at full scale as a viable alternative for offshore wind in water depths greater than 50 meters.
“After 10 years of development, this is a major milestone for our program, and we expect the VolturnUS hull concept to continue to attract private investment from the U.S. and around the world,” says Dr. Habib J. Dagher, P.E., UMaine Composites Center’s executive director and principal investigator.
Anthony Viselli, UMaine engineering manager, says ABS worked closely with the university through all design phases of the Aqua Ventus project.
“We are excited about the positive results from the design review and the potential for deploying this technology elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad,” he notes.
ABS completed a design review of the semisubmersible – verifying compliance with the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Installations. ABS determined that FEED design, as presented, met the requirements of the relevant ABS rules and regulatory standards.
