ABSTRACT

Different technologies for Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) systems have been developed and multiple studies exist that aim at comparing the techno-economic advantages and disadvantages of each technology. However, the assumptions and calculations used in these different studies vary largely resulting in high variation of the final cost estimates. This points to the need of developing a consistent method that allows for technology comparison at whole system but also sub-system level. In this paper, the sensitivity of the final results to the different assumptions and calculation set-ups is investigated. This study provides a discussion of the suitability of the applied methods, and as a result suggests the standardisation of the procedure, while defining a set of recommendations for good practices in techno-economic assessment of FOW technologies. The suggested common framework will facilitate the comparison of different FOW technologies based on costs and increase investor confidence.