ABS and FibreMax Team Up for Floating Wind Mooring Tech

Tendon mooring lines that support floating offshore wind (Credit: FibreMax)

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Dutch company FibreMax have signed an agreement to collaborate on stiffness-driven mooring tendons for the floating offshore wind market.

The collaboration, which is principally focused on floating offshore wind assets, will see ABS provide qualification of FibreMax’ s fiber and small rope testing.

ABS will evaluate test methods for accuracy in predicting the parameters needed to perform representative analysis, focusing on stiffness, while FibreMax will provide expertise on stiffness, based on its patented Parallel Wound Technology (PWT).

“ABS’ extensive experience in verification across the marine and offshore industries make us the ideal partner for this project. We are committed to safety excellence and to advancing safety standards across the offshore wind industry for new technologies,” said Robert Langford, ABS Vice President, Global Offshore Wind.

“We are excited to work together with ABS, given their impressive track record in floating offshore wind. Together with ABS, we will work to include operational parameters for stiffness-driven designs with the objective to jointly develop relevant parameters for these emerging designs and market,” added Sander van Helvoort, Director Renewable Energy at FibreMax.

ABS certified the first U.S. offshore wind project in Orsted's Block Island.

Worldwide, ABS certified the first semisubmersible floating offshore wind turbine, WindFloat I, classed the world's largest floating wind turbine at the time of installation with Windfloat Atlantic developed and operated by Ocean Winds, classed Kincardine, the world’s largest grid-connected floating offshore wind farm, and performed statutory reviews on behalf of International Registries (IRI) for Kincardine.