STX Finland’s hybrid steeland concrete concept was trialled with marinecontractor Terramare off Gävle, Sweden, as a substructure for shipping lanemarkers.

The company is now aimingto have a pair of its foundations topped with 3MW turbines in the water thisyear as a stepping stone to a full-scale offshore wind farm in 2015.

The STX design breaks fromthe convention of building the full GBS quayside and floating it out forinstallation, instead opting for a lightweight steel “skeleton” that can belowered into place by crane vessel, then ballasted with aggregate and injectedconcrete.

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