Project TAILWIND: Business and academic consortium kicks off collaboration on the future of floating offshore wind

Floating offshore wind farms can harness the high potential of offshore wind energy, where wind blows steadier and stronger than on land. The TAILWIND project, launched in January 2024, will deliver advanced station-keeping technologies, designed to maintain the position of floating offshore wind energy farms. NKT was invited to join the consortium to bring its unique expertise within dynamic cables – which will be key to connecting future floating wind farms. The integration of a dynamic cable system with novel mooring technologies and platform designs developed within TAILWIND will be key.

“I am proud that NKT is part of the TAILWIND project. Advancing the development of floating offshore wind is a very important next step in the green transition. It will require technological advancements from all stakeholders, including power cables. We believe our dynamic cables will play an important role here and look forward to them integrating into the other new technologies that are being developed for floating wind in this project,” says Anders Jensen, CTO, NKT.

The development of new technologies is critical to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of floating wind  farms, driving tangible cost savings while reducing dependency on primary raw materials.

“We are proud to kick off this important project with a world-leading consortium bringing industry and research together to develop more sustainable and cost-effective solutions for mooring floating wind turbines” remarks Thomas Langford, Director Offshore Energy at NGI - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. “We believe that TAILWIND has the power to deliver critical step-changes to industry practice, and look forward to seeing the project develop over the next few years.”

NKT already has a strong experience with dynamic cables thanks to a track record of successful projects. The competences and know-how of NKT’s Simulation Services department will play a major role in the execution of state-of-the-art simulations and mechanical analyses of dynamic cables.

The Tailwind project contributes to the goals set by the “REPowerEU” Plan and the “Fit for 55” package, aiming to accelerate the roll-out of renewables, diversify energy supplies and trigger consistent energy savings. The project is funded by the EU’s Horizon program.

The TAILWIND consortium is composed by NGI - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (Norway),  TU Delft - Geotechnical Engineering Section (Netherlands), Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (Denmark), SINTEF Ocean AS (Norway), Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation (Spain), Nautilus Floating Solutions (Spain), Bekaert Wire Rope Industry NV (Belgium), Subsea 7 Norway AS (Norway), Fondazione ICONS (Italy), Clarke Modet Y Compania S.L. (Spain), NKT Cables Group A/S (Denmark), Bridon International LTD (UK), University of Southampton (UK).