The flask-shaped 165-tonne steel structures, built at Belfast’s Harland and Wolff (H&W) yard using a design from Danish outfit Universal Foundation, are being trialled for developer consortium Forewind as cost-cutting foundations for wind turbines in mid-range water depths.
Based around a squat cylindrical “skirt” that pulls itself down into the seabed using a system of high-pressure pumps so that the soil becomes a structural support to root the tower and turbine in place, the concept – branded the Bucket Foundation – was developed through The Carbon Trust's technology-mentoring Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) scheme.
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