FORIDA hybrid towers. The towers for next generation of wind turbines

FORIDA DEVELOPMENT A/S

The vision of this project is to develop a new wind turbine tower of steel and Ultra High Strength Concrete (UHPC). With this new technology it will be possible to produce towers of a height that today is not profitable.

The fundamental idea in the present project is to mimic current steel design and construct a hybrid tower in which the bottom part is constructed with UHPC and the upper part is in steel. The UHPC-elements will be prefabricated and then assembled on site. This production method offers great flexibility in the design.
The height of towers plays an important role especially for onshore wind turbines where an increase in height also leads to a significant increase in average energy production. The wind turbine industry expects that a growing part of the market will be with tower heights of +125 m.
The steel towers which are dominant today face severe challenges for the increased heights. Tubular steel towers are the most dominant design today as they offer a good technical and economical solution for turbines dimensioned according to present standards. Today most wind turbines of steel have a tower height of 94-105 m. When the tower height increases, the weight of the steel tower increases disproportionately; a tower with a height in excess of 125m could possess a weight more than double that of an 80m tower.

Project description

FORIDA Development, Vestas and Aalborg University will develop a new wind turbine tower solution (The FORIDA Tower) for very tall wind turbines. The tower is going to be a hybrid of materials combining steel and an element divided tower system of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC). The FORIDA Tower has a great competitiveness regarding price, design, flexibility and durability.

The project consists of two main phases: Development and demonstration. The development phase aims to formulate guidelines for design of UHPC concrete structure for the tower. This is expected to be achieved by structural and material analysis, tests and optimization of preliminary design. Succeeding this, the project will move into the demonstration phase, where the criteria of success are to achieve a prototype certification from DNV. Test tower foundation will be carried out and prepared for Hybrid Tower erection.

The project contains the following objectives:

1. Design method for the hybrid tower and its components.
2. Technical documentation of the UHPC-material.
3. Detailed design of a prototype tower of 94 m.
4. Achieve certification of the tower construction in UHPC, including calculation methods.

The demonstration turbines id fully designed to be monitored and compared with wind turbines on steel towers also placed at the test site. When achieving approval of foundation and receiving certification from DNV on the prototype tower, this project is finished.

Key figures

Period:
2011 - 2014
Funding year:
2011
Own financial contribution:
9.17 mio. DKK
Grant:
12.09 mio. DKK
Funding rate:
57 %
Project budget:
21.26 mio. DKK

Category

Oprindelig title
FORIDA-hybridtårne. Tårnene for næste generation af vindmøller
Programme
EUDP
Technology
Wind
Project type
Udvikling
Case no.
64011-0039

Dokumenter

Slutrapport

Participants

FORIDA DEVELOPMENT A/S (Main Responsible)
Partners and economy
Partner Subsidy Auto financing
FORIDA DEVELOPMENT A/S 9,34 mio. DKK 6,23 mio. DKK
VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S 0,38 mio. DKK 0,57 mio. DKK
Aalborg Universitet (Fredrik Bajers Vej) 2,37 mio. DKK 2,37 mio. DKK

Contact

Kontakperson
Karlsen, Jan
Comtact information

FORIDA Development A/S
Hjallerup Erhvervspark 2
9320 Hjallerup
www.forida.dk
Karlsen, Jan , 52173720, jk@forida.dk
Øvr. Partnere: Vestas Wind Systems A/S; Aalborg Universitet (AAU)

Contact email
jk@forida.dk