ABOUT

Triton Systems has been developing subsea anchor installation technology for the past eight years, most recently developing an anchoring system for offshore wind.

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Triton’s Helical Anchor Group Installation System (HAGIS) is a low cost, silent, efficient, flexible anchoring system for small- and large-scale offshore wind farms.

Currently, the floating wind sector is contending with mooring and anchoring options that are mature, but not realistic for large wind farms. This will lead to higher than expected costs and permitting issues unless addressed. Catenary style moorings on semi-submersible or spar platforms are a default option that will work on demonstrators but entail an unrealistic vast spiderweb of overlapping mooring chain in a full wind farm. Driven pile anchors produce extreme underwater noise levels that result in marine mammal monitoring requirements, and costly schedule constraints that are unrealistic for a large farm development. Large suction pile anchors are impressive feats but require expensive logistics to move anchors from production facilities to wind farm locations, further increasing their high costs. Suction piles also have installation limitations in sand based site conditions.

Triton is developing HAGIS to address these challenges. Helical anchors provide resistance in bearing rather than friction, making them quite efficient, among other benefits. Our approach is to add deepwater helical anchoring capability to the “toolbox” of viable approaches and compete on a case-by-case basis. HAGIS can be applied to any wind platform design (spar, semi-submersible, tension leg).

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A helical anchor is considered one of the most effective and efficient means of anchoring in soils for two primary reasons:

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1. it resists mooring loads through bearing on the helices and is therefore not as susceptible to cyclic degradation in capacity which can occur when the resistance comes from friction as in a tension pile (e.g., Jardine and Standing 2012), and

2. they overcome the difficulty in achieving deep embedment into the seabed, which can be a challenge for many anchors particularly in cohesionless soils.

Anchors make up a significant component of capital cost and therefore Levelize Cost of Energy (LCOE). Triton is working with offshore wind developers and key stakeholders in the mooring process to ensure that the new anchoring technology fits the needs, wants and issues with current anchoring solutions. 

Triton’s anchoring system (patent-pending) works by using highly efficient helical anchors that provide significant benefit in holding capacity.

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Field axial cyclic loading experiments on piles driven in sand - ScienceDirect

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The HAGIS Anchoring System: 

• Achieves breakthrough cost savings by lowering manufacturing (~40% reduction) and installation costs (~25% reduction)

• Can be applied to any offshore wind platform or mooring configuration making it a flexible solution for the growing market

• Minimizes acoustic impact on the environment and sea life

• Can be easily removed for decommissioning planning

• Is scalable and applicable to many types of subsea foundations beyond offshore wind, such as other renewable energy systems