ProWind
About
ProWind is a major national initiative funded by the Research Council of Norway to establish a cutting-edge research infrastructure dedicated to offshore wind foundation technology.
The main objective of this 70 Million NOK project is to establish «a unique national experimental research infrastructure dedicated to unlocking design conservatism, catalysing innovations, and improving sustainability for offshore wind foundation systems».
This infrastructure will support high-quality, long-term research and innovation in areas such as:
- Seabed material behaviour under environmental loads
- Life-cycle soil–foundation response of novel technologies
- Multi-scale testing of new concepts
- Marine environmental responses to sub-sea structure installation and operation
The overarching goal is to enable the safe, sustainable, and cost-effective development of offshore wind energy on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Key information
- Test site
- Karmøy Test Site
- Status
- Systems
- Field and Structural Instrumentation
- Field
- Environmental Monitoring Systems
- Areas
- Retrofitting Instrumentation and Mooring Systems
METCentre is a proud partner in ProWind, contributing full-scale testing capabilities, offshore instrumentation systems, and real-world deployment environments.
ProWind brings together six leading organisations:
- NGI (Project Owner)
- OsloMet
- NIVA
- Akvaplan-niva
- METCentre and Norwegian Offshore Wind
Together, the consortium will develop a distributed, multi-site research infrastructure operating through 2034. The project supports Norway’s leadership in offshore wind and contributes to workforce development, environmental stewardship, and industrial competitiveness.
Expected Outcomes
New foundation and anchoring concepts validated in lab and field.
Ecosystem impact assessments of seabed installations.
Stronger safety, cost-efficiency, and sustainability in Norwegian offshore wind projects ngi.no.
Strengthened Norwegian position as a global research and technology leader in offshore wind.
Description automatically generatedData retrieved from the site will become available for other research projects.
Equipment to be installed offshore
Field and Structural Instrumentation
- Turbine support structure and foundation instrumentation. For real-time monitoring of structural behaviour under operational loads.
- Field instrumentation equipment. Used to collect high-resolution geotechnical and environmental data directly from offshore test sites.
Environmental Monitoring Systems
- Oceanographic sensors, including vertical winches and related equipment. For collecting oceanographic data such as currents, temperature, and salinity.
- Acoustic sensors. For monitoring underwater soundscapes, crucial for assessing marine ecosystem impacts.
- Surface acoustic and visual vehicle (likely a USV- Uncrewed Surface Vehicle). For mobile, remote observation of surface and underwater conditions.
- Seabed observation systems. For monitoring the interaction between foundations and the seabed, as well as the surrounding marine life.
Retrofitting Instrumentation and Mooring Systems
- Retrofitted instrumentation systems. Adapted for existing platforms or test structures to extend their monitoring capabilities.
- Oceanographic mooring system. Used to anchor sensors and instrumentation in fixed locations offshore.
These installations, primarily located at METCentre's offshore test site, will provide the real-world, multi-scale data needed to validate new offshore wind foundation technologies and assess their environmental impacts.