TouchWind has installed its floating wind turbine prototype at Fieldlab Green Economy Westvoorne in the Netherlands, marking the start of in-water testing under the POWER project. The programme, known as ‘POsitive Wake Effects of turbines with tilted Rotors’, is now entering its field testing phase. It examines how tilted rotor configurations may influence wake behaviour and access higher wind speeds at altitude, with the aim of increasing power density in wind farm layouts.
The floating turbine is moored using steel and polyester lines connected to concrete deadweight anchors fitted with 3D-printed reef structures developed by Coastruction to support local ecology. Load shackles integrated into the mooring system will record operational forces during testing.
The installation was coordinated by TouchWind and Duc Marine Group, with crane operations provided by Peinemann. MARIN supported the mooring process through load monitoring.
The POWER consortium includes TouchWind, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, TNO, MARIN, Nidec and We4Ce. The project is funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
Testing will continue through 2026, with data collection covering turbine performance, platform behaviour and mooring loads.
