Technology Concept of TLP Platform Towing and Installation in Waters with Depth of 60 m

The article is part of the design and research work conducted at the Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Ocean Engineering and Ship Technology, in cooperation with a number of other research centres, which concerns offshore wind farms planned to be built in the Polish zone of the Baltic sea in the next years. One of most difficult tasks in this project is building suitable foundations for each power unit consisting of a tower and a wind turbine mounted on its top. Since the water regions selected for building those wind farms have different depths, there was need to study different possible technical variants of this task, with the reference to both the foundation structures themselves, and the technology of their transport and setting, or anchoring. The article presents the technology of towing, from the shipyard to the setting place, and installation of the foundation having the form of a floating platform of TLP (Tension Leg Platform) type, anchored by tight chains to suction piles in the waters with depth of 60 m.