Perspectives on design of floating platforms for offshore airborne wind energy systems

The need for a fast transition towards electricity generation pushed large investments in highrisk, high-impact technologies such as floating Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES), which are expected to be highly cost efficient with respect to state-of-the-art offshore wind energy technology. Current research on the matter does not address the design challenge of a tailored floater, necessary to suit at most the unique features of such systems, and foster their industrial and commercial development. The goal of this study is to review the available solutions from traditional floating offshore wind energy systems, and hence to propose a straightforward concept, adapted from current designs, for the deployment of AWESs. Moreover, to provide insights on how the geometrical parameters influence its motion response, a sensitivity study is performed, testing different design solutions against a wave scatter. In view of a cost-effective solution, a spar-like concept, adapted to the specific needs of AWESs, is proposed. The sensitivity analysis suggests the need to adopt aspect ratio larger than 4 to effectively mitigate the pitch response; in addition, heave response emerges as a possible design constraint with large impact on the device’s costs.