Conceptual design of a large-scale floating offshore vertical axis wind turbine

Large-scale floating vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are an attractive and economical solution to harness superior offshore wind resources in deep water locations. This paper presents the conceptual design of a VAWT for this application using a developed aerodynamic modelling strategy. A comprehensive examination of several critical VAWT design parameters was undertaken which included the turbine solidity, blade number, blade aspect ratio and non-prismatic strut design.