The floating offshore wind turbine Zefyros

Next to the METcentre test site on Karmøy is the Zefyros floating offshore wind turbine (formerly Hywind Demo), owned by the supplier Unitech. The offshore wind turbine can be used to test components and systems relevant to floating offshore wind concepts. Examples include scada systems, sensors, access systems, anchoring / mooring and more. The wind turbine is connected to the onshore power grid via a cable. Zefyros has built in the possibility to connect other power generators to this cable, avoiding expensive extra costs in the project. Such projects may involve testing energy systems with solar cells, micro wind turbines, wave power plants and underwater batteries, among others.

Innovative energy companies flock to Karmøy to test their solutions, where METcentre provides services and infrastructure for testing offshore wind power. The floating offshore wind turbine “Zefyros”, formerly “Hywind Demo”, is the main test facility. Metcentre can also provide marine areas and a life buoy for testing other concepts in wind, solar and wave energy. The Spar buoy was used by Google’s Makani project, among others, when they tested their groundbreaking wind kite.