Floating wind energy unlocks vast wind resources far beyond shallow continental shelves. By placing turbines on floating foundations that are moored to the seabed, developers can move into waters hundreds of meters deep—areas that were off-limits to fixed-bottom designs. For countries with narrow shelves or deep coastal zones, this technology turns “nice wind maps” into bankable projects.
Below we outline how floating wind works, why corrosion protection is mission-critical, and how Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) from CORROSION helps operators hit availability targets while cutting environmental footprint.
How floating wind platforms work
A floating wind turbine couples a standard offshore wind nacelle and tower to a buoyant foundation. Common hull types include semi-submersibles, spars, and tension-leg platforms. Each keeps the structure stable in waves while allowing controlled motions. High-strength mooring lines (chain, wire, or synthetic rope) hold the unit on station, with anchors transferring loads into the seabed.
The key advantage is water depth. Whereas fixed-bottom turbines are typically limited to ~60 meters, floating wind energy concepts can operate in depths approaching 1000 meters. That’s decisive when you consider that the majority of high-quality offshore wind areas worldwide lie in waters deeper than 60 meters. In practice, floating unlocks better wind regimes, fewer visual constraints, and more siting flexibility around shipping lanes, fisheries, and sensitive habitats.
The hidden challenge: seawater corrosion
Seawater is an unforgiving environment. Hulls, mooring components, J-tubes, ballast tanks, and auxiliary steel are continuously exposed to oxygenated, saline water and cyclic wetting. Left unmanaged, corrosion reduces wall thickness, threatens structural integrity, and elevates OPEX through unplanned inspections and repairs. For floating units that must deliver utility-scale capacity factors, a robust corrosion protection strategy is as essential as blade design or mooring analysis.
Two cathodic protection (CP) approaches dominate offshore:
- Galvanic anode CP (GACP) uses sacrificial metal anodes (typically aluminum or zinc) that corrode in place of the structure.
- Impressed Current CP (ICCP) applies a low, controlled DC current from inert anodes to maintain the steel at a protective potential.
Both can meet design codes, but their lifecycle profiles differ significantly for floating fleets.
Why ICCP fits floating wind
Floating wind energy benefits from ICCP in several ways:
- Tunable, constant protection
ICCP automatically maintains the steel’s electrochemical potential within the target window, compensating for temperature, salinity, biofouling, and coating ageing. That stability supports predictable integrity management and fewer surprise call-outs. - Lower mass and easier logistics
ICCP uses inert (non-consuming) anodes and power/control modules instead of tons of sacrificial metal. That reduces hull weight, simplifies transport and installation, and avoids frequent anode replacement campaigns—valuable on deepwater, dynamically moving assets. - Environmental profile
Because inert anodes don’t dissolve, ICCP avoids introducing large amounts of metal alloys into the sea over a farm’s lifetime. For developers facing stringent environmental permitting, this is a clear advantage. - Remote monitoring and control
ICCP systems integrate reference electrodes, rectifiers, and controllers so operators can monitor potentials and current demands from shore. Trending data helps correlate hydrodynamics, coatings health, and biofouling with CP performance—turning CP into a predictive integrity signal.
CORROSION has applied ICCP at scale across offshore wind since 2008—protecting thousands of monopiles—and now adapts that field-proven architecture to floating foundations. As platform designs evolve, so do ICCP layouts, power modules, and sensor placement to handle changing wetted areas and motions.
Anatomy of an ICCP system for floaters
While details vary by hull type, a typical floating wind ICCP package includes:
- Inert anodes mounted to the hull in zones of representative flow and access.
- Ag/AgCl reference electrodes distributed to capture spatial variability and verify protection levels.
- Ruggedized rectifiers/controllers linked to platform power with redundancy and fail-safe logic.
- Data acquisition and telemetry for onshore SCADA integration, alarms, and trend analysis.
- Coating synergy—ICCP is designed to complement high-performance coatings, minimizing current demand and extending coating life.
Design follows recognized practices (e.g., NACE/ISO/BSR standards) and is tuned by site-specific parameters such as salinity, temperature, marine growth expectations, and motion envelopes.
Integrating ICCP into the project lifecycle
To capture the full benefit, consider ICCP early:
- Concept & FEED
Reserve anode and reference electrode locations; ensure cable routing, cofferdams, and protection from hydrodynamic loads are in the baseline design. Simulate current distribution for each draft condition (installation, operation, tow-out, maintenance). - Build & Commissioning
Factory acceptance tests validate power modules and controls. During wet commissioning, potentials are baselined, and alarms/duty cycles are verified across operating states. - Operations
Onshore teams track potentials, currents, and temperature/salinity proxies, correlating anomalies with coating inspections, marine growth, or temporary power changes. Predictive thresholds trigger targeted ROV checks rather than broad, costly campaigns. - Life extension & repowering
ICCP modules are serviceable, and control updates can incorporate new data or operating modes, simplifying asset-life extensions.
Cost and risk perspective
For floating wind energy, logistics dominate OPEX. Every avoided heavy-lift or offshore campaign preserves margin and availability. ICCP helps by:
- Reducing consumable mass and replacement frequency compared to GACP.
- Offering continuous health data that enables condition-based maintenance.
- Stabilizing protection across coating degradation, helping maintain structural reliability envelopes required by insurers and lenders.
The result is a corrosion strategy aligned with bankability: predictable performance, fewer interventions, and demonstrable environmental stewardship.
Beyond steel: moorings and auxiliaries
Mooring chains and connectors are critical load paths and are likewise exposed to corrosion and wear. While ICCP primarily targets the hull, combined strategies; high-build coatings, selective CP on metallic appurtenances, tailored materials, and inspection regimes, extend protection to the mooring system. Interface engineering is key to avoid stray-current issues while protecting what matters most.
The road ahead
As arrays grow and standardization increases, floating wind energy will move from pilot to industrial scale. Corrosion protection must scale with it; modular, data-rich, and tuned for deepwater logistics. ICCP provides that platform. Backed by decades of offshore wind experience, CORROSION is applying its monopile heritage to the next generation of floating foundations,supporting developers with design, supply, commissioning, and lifecycle monitoring.
If you’re evaluating corrosion strategies for a new floater concept or preparing a pilot for scale-up, a conversation about ICCP trade-offs, monitoring architecture, and lifecycle OPEX is often the fastest way to de-risk the plan. Floating opens the deep ocean; smart corrosion control keeps it reliably productive.
