IEA Wind TCP Task 49

Integrated Design on Floating wind Arrays (IDeA)
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About Task 49

IEA Wind Task 49, Integrated Design of Floating Wind Arrays, is an international research collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of large-scale floating offshore wind farms. Its participants work across disciplines, sectors, and countries to develops frameworks, reference designs, datasets, and recommendations that broadly address array-level floating wind design challenges.

The first phase of Task 49 began in December 2021 and produced a collection of key outputs including reference site condition datasets representative of the global pipeline; reference floating wind array designs; a failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis for floating wind farms; and internationally sourced results on marine spatial planning, innovation needs, and supply chain challenges.

In response to emerging challenges in array-level loads analysis, standardization across diverse conditions, and the interdependencies between operations-and-maintenances strategies and up-front design, a second phase of Task 49 is being prepared.

Background and Goals

Task 49 was initiated in response to IEA Wind Topical Experts Meeting #99, which discussed the challenges as floating wind technology matures and the industry looks to expand from existing demonstration projects to larger-scale floating arrays and more diverse site conditions. Many of the challenges are interdisciplinary and relate to the interconnections within a floating wind array. For example, the layout of an array needs to be determined in conjunction with design of the moorings, anchors, and power cables. This creates strong couplings between structural requirements, power production, and space use. Installation processes, failure risks, and operations and maintenance (O&M) approaches are also key considerations that are interdependent with design decisions. Costs, energy delivery, and impacts on the environment and other ocean users all depend on the aforementioned considerations. Holistic approaches to floating array design are needed.

Task 49 launched in December 2021 and brought together 12 participating countries comprising 78 organizations including universities, research institutes, and industry members. The first phase has been organized into four core work packages (WPs) with the following goals:

  • WP1: Curate a set of site conditions representative of the global floating wind pipeline;
  • WP2: Develop reference array designs for typical site conditions and technology types;
  • WP3: Catalogue array-level failure risks, consequences, and mitigation strategies;
  • WP4: Identify critical innovation opportunities and marine spatial planning requirements

Work Packages and Outputs

The first phase of IEA Wind Task 49 was carried out through 4 interrelated work packages. Their topics and key outputs are listed below.

Work Package 1: Reference site conditions for floating wind arrays

This work package defines metocean, geotechnical, socio-ecological, and other site-specific parameters for a range of hypothetical reference sites that are representative of the types of conditions in which the initial phase of commercial-scale floating wind may be deployed, and will identify where relevant open-access datasets are unavailable or limited.

Leads: Konstanze Kölle (SINTEF) and Shauna Creane (UCC)

Deliverables:

  • Reference Site Conditions Report: Creane, S., Santos, P., Kolle, K., Airoldi, D., Bakhoday-Paskyabi, M., Biglu, M., Brown, W., Cheynet, E., Diaz-Tejeiro, L. E., Froyd, L., Hagerman, G., Hall, M., Kim, Y.-Y., Larsen, X., Li, L., Lozon, E., Musialik, M., Naldi, R., Park, M., Shields, M., Sorensen, J. Tanemoto, J., Yu, Y., Zouaoui, A. (2024). Reference Site Conditions for Floating Wind Arrays. IEA Wind Task 49. NREL Technical Report NREL/TP-5000-89937. DOI: 10.2172/2447928. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy24osti/89937.pdf
  • Reference Site Conditions Dataset: Santos, P., Creane, S., Kölle, K., Airoldi, D., Biglu, M., Cheynet, E., Frøyd, L., Hall, M., Kim, Y.-Y., Lanni, F., Larsén, X. G., Li, L., Lozon, E., Paskyabi, M. B., Yamagushi, A., & You, Y.-J. (2024). Reference site conditions for floating wind arrays: dataset of reference sites (1.0.0) [Data set].  IEA Wind Task 49. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11073986.

Associated publications:

  • Creane, S., Santos, P., Kölle, K., et al. 2024. “IEA Wind Task 49: Reference Site Conditions for Floating Wind Arrays.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2875 (1): 012009. DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2875/1/012009.

Work Package 2: Development of reference floating wind array designs

This work package develops and defines floating wind farm reference designs that can serve as baseline designs in future array-level floating wind R&D activities.

Leads: Matt Hall (NREL), Ericka Lozon (NREL), Michel Castagne (IFPEN), Chris Wright (Venterra Group), Muk Chen Ong and Chern Fong Lee (U. Stavanger)

Deliverables:

  • Reference Floating Wind Array Design Basis: Hall, M., Lozon, E., Devoy McAuliffe, F., Baudino Bessone, M., Bayati, I., Bowie, M., Bozonnet, P., Castagne, M., Feng, J., Housner, S., Janocha, M., Jiang, Z., Kim, Y., Ko, D., Kolle, K., Lee, C., Lekkala, M. R., Liang, G., Mahfouz, M., … Wright, C. (2024). The IEA Wind Task 49 Reference Floating Wind Array Design Basis. IEA Wind Task 49. NREL Technical Report NREL/TP-5000-89709. DOI: 10.2172/2382797. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy24osti/89709.pdf
  • IEA Wind Task 49 Floating Array Ontology
  • Reference Floating Array 1: Ong, M.C., Lee, C.F., Mulas Hernando, D., Janocha, M. J., and Feng, J. (2026). The IEA Wind RFA1 Shallow-Water Reference Floating Array Design. IEA Wind Task 49.
  • Reference Floating Array 2: Wright, C., et al. (2026). The IEA Wind RFA2 Intermediate-Depth Reference Floating Array Design. IEA Wind Task 49.
  • Reference Floating Array 3: Lozon, E., et al. (2026). The IEA Wind RFA3 Deep-Water Reference Array Design. IEA Wind Task 49.
  • Reference Floating Array 3.1: Castagné, M., Nassor, A., Poirette, Y., Tran, M.H., Rajasree, V.R.N. (2026). The IEA Wind RFA3.1 Deep-Water Reference Floating Array Design with Tension Leg Platforms. IEA Wind Task 49.

Associated publications:

  • Janocha, M. J., Ong, M. C., Lee, C. F., Chen, K., & Ye, N. (2024). “Reference Power Cable Models for Floating Offshore Wind Applications.” Sustainability, 16(7), 2899. DOI: 10.3390/su16072899.
  • Riva, R., Pedersen, M., Pirrung, G., Bredmose, H., and Feng, J. (2024). “Incorporation of floater rotation and displacement in a static wind farm simulator.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2767. DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2767/6/062019.
  • Feng, J., Pedersen, M., Riva, R., Bredmose, H., and Santos, P. (2024). “Design optimization of floating offshore wind farms using a steady state movement and flow model.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2875. DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2875/1/012039.
  • Lee, J. et al. (2025). “Optimized suction anchor design for 15-MW FOWTs in deep water.” OMAE2025-157008. DOI: 10.1115/OMAE2025-157008.
  • Nassor, A. et al. (2025). “Floating offshore wind farm design optimization, including mooring line orientations and fatigue design.” IOWTC2025-165418. DOI: 10.1115/IOWTC2025-165418.
  • Castagné, M. et al. (2026). “A comparison between semi-submersible and TLP floating offshore wind farm layouts in a deep-water case.” OMAE2026-180891. .

Work Package 3: Array-level failure risks and mitigation

This work package focuses on identifying the failure modes pertaining to floating wind turbine arrays, and the potential consequences and couplings of those modes in the context of an array.

Leads: Mitra Kamidelivand (UCC), Busra Yildirim (DTU), Charbel Nasr

Deliverables:

  • Array-Level Failure Risks Report: Yildirim, B., Kamidelivand, M., Nasr, C., Persent, E., Slack, E., Schlanbusch, R., Jiang, Z., Kolios, A. (2025). Failure Risk Evaluation of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines with Farm-Level Implications. IEA Wind Task 49. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20211172.
  • Failure Risk Mitigation Report: Mitra Kamidelivand, M. and Yildirim, B. (2026). Failure Risk Mitigation for Floating Offshore Wind Arrays. IEA Wind Task 49.

Associated publications:

  • Yildirim, B., Kamidelivand, M., Dimitrov, N, and Kolios, A. “Failure mode risk prioritization for floating wind turbines: An expert-based FMEA framework from IEA Wind Task 49”, Energy Reports (15), 2026, DOI: 10.1016/j.egyr.2026.109072.

Work Package 4: Classification of requirements for floating array deployment

This work package identifies and characterizes major research questions faced by the industry and informs the efforts of WP1, WP2, and WP3.

Leads: Ota Dvorak (Venterra Group) and Greg Bohan

Deliverables:

Associated publications:

  • Dvorak, O., G. Bohan, A. Incecik, D. Ingram, I. Ashton, and D. Konovessis. “Floating Offshore Wind – an Overview of Marine Spatial Planning and the Needs of the Industry.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2875, no. 1 (2024): 012048. DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2875/1/012048.
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Participation

Task 49 Participants

Who can participate in Task 49?

To participate in the research activities of Task 49, researchers must reside in a country that participates in the IEA Wind TCP Implementing Agreement and has agreed by official letter to participate in Task 49. The participating member country of the IEA Wind TCP must designate a lead institution that agrees to the obligations of Task participation.

Active researchers (performing part of the work plan) benefit from meetings and professional exchange during the term of the Task. Task 49 participants also have access to the task’s data and findings before it is published. The value of task participation in terms of knowledge exchange and information access is often many times the cost of participation.

For information about participating in the proposed second phase of Task 49, contact Matt Hall or the IEA Wind TCP Secretariat.

Participation

Task Management and Contact

Please contact the Operating Agent and Task Manager below with any questions.

Matt Hall
Operating Agent
Matthew.Hall@sintef.no

Contact

Email: matthew.hall@sintef.no