Windfloat Atlantic is a floating wind farm installed 20 km off the coast of Viana do Castelo that produces clean energy. It began to be tested almost ten years ago, with the construction of a pilot project on the Portuguese coast, which was the first offshore wind deployment in the world.

The project belongs to the joint venture created between Ocean Winds (50:50 EDP Renewables and Engie), Repsol and Principle Power.

The greatness of the project also attracted the support of public and private institutions, namely the European Commission, the Portuguese Environmental Fund and the European Investment Bank.

Yes. At the moment, it is about to complete two years of total entry into operation and, by the way, it has performed well above expectations. In fact, the results could not be more encouraging:

To date, Windfloat Atlantic has already produced 131 GWh, enough energy to supply more than 100,000 inhabitants and avoided the emission of more than 58,000 tons of CO2.

In the design of the project, efforts have been made to avoid all kinds of conditioning factors and the specialized maintenance teams have already demonstrated their effectiveness. So far, the most challenging period has been during the Dora storm in December 2020, with waves reaching almost 14 meters in height and winds of up to 134 km/hour.

At first glance, the constitution of this park is very simple: there are 3 turbines mounted on floating platforms and arranged in an equilateral triangle with a side of 57 km. Its dimensions are on the scale of true giants: 30 meter high platforms, 12 meter diameter columns and 8.4 MW turbines, one of the largest in the world, with 80 meter blades and 164 meter rotors. diameter. . The entire structure is 210 meters high.

EDP ​​​​was a pioneer in this technology and today has privileged knowledge of the offshore floating market. Windfloat Atlantic’s technology is already being replicated in other projects, such as the French Eoliennes flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL), in the Mediterranean, where Ocean Winds will implement the same technology using a “third generation float” in a cutting-edge project in matter of innovation and protection of biodiversity. In fact, there are great opportunities to expand this technology throughout the world, which EDP, through Ocean Winds, is already exploring to achieve decarbonisation goals and add value to the economy. There are already collaborations in Spain, France and the United Kingdom, to name just a few, with the aim of building new floating wind farms, that is, this technology is in full development from Portugal to the world. Furthermore, for example, Ocean Winds has recently obtained exclusive development rights for KF Wind, a 1.2 GW floating offshore wind project in Ulsan, South Korea.

The fact that the turbines are mounted on floating platforms, moored to the seabed by mooring systems, avoids the complex offshore logistics operations of traditional fixed structures, reducing the impact on the environment. It should be remembered that this project is part of EDP’s sustainability strategy, which has as one of its commitments the total decarbonisation of energy production, distribution and use. All this technology aims to contribute to saving the planet and humanity.