Office locations throughout Germany and in various European and Asian locations as well as in the Americas enable provision of services in proximity to the client. GICON’s headquarters are in Dresden, Germany. The group operates under the registered trademark GICON ®. GICON ® is an incorporated group of independent engineering and consulting companies, founded in 1994. The group aims to define the support needed to help developers overcome challenges on the road to commercialization and to communicate those requirements to the general public and relevant stakeholders. Together with eight other companies, they founded the “Friends of Floating Offshore Wind” in 2016. GICON ® and Glosten have been promoting floating technology for offshore wind for several years. Furthermore, the TLP has a significantly lower mass compared to other offshore foundation solutions, such as semisubmersible floaters. No separate systems for stabilization, such as active ballast systems are needed. The stability of a TLP system is achieved by the combination of forces from tendons and buoyancy. Therefore, the demands on wind turbines from platform motion are much lower compared to other floating technologies. The advantage of the Tension Leg Platform offshore wind substructure lies in its stability. TLP Technologies lowering demands on wind turbines GICON ® and Glosten provide fully-integrated, engineered, certified, detailed design packages and technology assurances as part of their technology solutions. Our medium-term goal is to reach $54/MWh for a windfarm consisting of 10MW wind turbines” says GICON ® founder Prof.
The result of the new partnership offers developers, utilities and independent power producers a single source TLP solution with a LCOE of less than 70€/MWh. GICON ® and Glosten’s collaboration will advance each design type and open the door to the potential evolution of hybrid solutions. And yet, the GICON ® SOF and the Glosten PelaStar TLP designs have complementary advantages. Over the past years, both companies have developed their own respective substructure technologies. The companies point out the advantages of their newly established co-operation such as using their strengths and geographic presence to optimize efforts in demonstrating the benefits of TLP technologies for the offshore industry. Both companies provide engineering as their core business.
FLOATING FOUNDATION CONCEPT TLP GICON FULL
The objective is to concentrate resources to develop an optimum Tension Leg Platform ( TLP) offshore wind foundation designed for the full range of water depths (20 to 350m), for all metocean conditions, seabed types and turbine sizes. The two engineering companies, German-based GICON ® – Grossmann Ingenieur Consult GmbHand US-based Glosten, are forming a strategic business relationship.