The GICON® SOF Floating Offshore Foundation

An innovative solution for the global offshore wind sector

The vast majority of the world’s offshore wind resources are found
in regions with water depths above 50 meters/164 feet. The existing
foundations, as currently used for offshore wind farms in Europe, for
example, are not deployable at those depths, both from technical as
well as economic viability perspectives. In order to utilize these offshore
wind resources, floating foundation technology is required. The wind
resources for offshore wind power in deep water requiring floating
foundation technology are estimated at 3,000 GW (gigawatts) in the
United States, 750 GW in China and Japan and 1,000+ GW in Europe.

GICON® – one of the largest independently-owned engineering com-

panies in Germany with approx. 300 full-time engineers – is developing
the GICON® SOF Floating Offshore Foundation, a floating, load-bearing
structure for offshore wind turbines with numerous advantages over
conventional foundations such as monopiles, gravity foundations,
tripods, tripiles and jackets.

l Deployable in water depths from 65 ft. (20m) up to 1640 ft. (500m)

(completely new areas for offshore wind farms now accessible)
l Low manufacturing costs
l Able to be completely assembled in port and therefore not reliant
on favorable weather conditions
l Towable as complete unit (including turbine) from port-side
assembly location to deployment site
l Collision-friendly
l Lower geotechnical demands on sea floor
l Maintenance-friendly
l If required, entire structure is interchangeable
l Supports small-to-medium-sized supply-chain companies
via modular construction method

Tests exceed expectations

In June 2013, test results from the Maritime Research Institute in the
Netherlands proved the usability and serviceability of the structure.
Reinforcing earlier calculations by engineers, the system proved extre-
mely stable under wind and wave loads. The tests demonstrated that
the GICON® SOF displays the same small movements under operational
conditions as known from conventional solid foundations, despite the
use of bracing cables. It is thus far the world’s only floating foundation
that displays such positional stability. The results definitively confirmed
the feasibility of the pilot installation planned for 2014.

Please visit http://www.gicon.de/sof for video impressions from the tests.

Contact:
Burkhard Schuldt, b.schuldt@gicon.de

GICON® | Tiergartenstr. 48 | 01219 Dresden, Germany | T +49 351 47878-0 | F +49 351 47878-78 | info@gicon.de | www.gicon.com