DNV has awarded Inocean AS, a Norwegian subsidiary of Technip Energies, Approval in Principle (AiP) and Basic Design Approval for their new INO12TM semisubmersible platform concept. The certificates were presented during the Nor-Shipping trade fair at the DNV stand, by Geir Fuglerud, Director of Offshore Classification at DNV to Øystein D Nilsen, Managing Director of Inocean AS.
The INO12TM floating offshore wind concept has been designed to accommodate a 12MW wind turbine, with a life span of 25 years without dry docking. The concept emerged initially from internal research at Inocean and was further refined in the WINDMOOR research project, 4-year project funded by the Research Council of Norway and the offshore wind industry. The INO12TM semi-submersible floating wind concept which utilises a simple and lean design, which has been tailored towards mass production and scalability. The concept also offers the possibility of full assembly at the quayside with direct access to the tower.
“Yet again we would like to express our gratitude to DNV for their proactive approach, for being solution oriented and for having a professional attitude,” said Øystein D Nilsen, Managing Director of Inocean. “At the same time, we would also like to thank our parent company Technip Energies for embracing the concept INO12™ and for involving Inocean in their strategic plans for the floating offshore wind business.”
“We would like to congratulate Inocean and Technip Energies on winning the AiP, which once again is a result of the excellent ongoing cooperation we have enjoyed on the project," said Geir Fuglerud, Director of Offshore Classification at DNV. “The AiP and Basic Design Approval also demonstrates the commitment of Inocean and Technip Energies to showing the industry that the INO12™ concept rests on a foundation of the most advanced technical standards in the industry. Floating offshore wind is a market that we predict will expand massively over the coming years - if we can build on a basis of trusted assurance. And for DNV this means to continue to develop our rules and standards, to empower partners like Inocean to push the boundaries of the technology further and expand the segment’s reach, with confidence and safety.”
The design has been assessed for operations in Bretagne Sud (South Brittany), based on the DNV class notation: OI Column-stabilised Floating offshore wind turbine installation POSMOOR in the DNV Rules for Offshore Units DNV-RUOU-0512, “Floating offshore wind turbine installations”. The review conducted under the AiP covers the hull structure, stability, mooring, and marine systems.
An Approval in Principle (AiP) is an independent assessment of a concept within an agreed framework, confirming that the design is feasible, and no significant obstacles exist to prevent the concept from being realized. A Basic Design Approval is the stage of review where global aspects of the design, regarding structure, stability and technical safety, are reviewed and approved by DNV in order to clarify key details at an early stage and reduce the scope of a subsequent full class approval.