Gazelle Wind Power has announced a new floating platform design capable of supporting wind turbines rated at 18 megawatts and above, developed specifically for deployment in some of the most demanding offshore environments in the world.

The company says the design has been created in collaboration with a major Asian utility for a large-scale floating offshore wind project at a typhoon-prone site, with basin testing already completed and early results described as encouraging across both performance and cost metrics.

A Design Built for Extreme Offshore Environments

The new platform has been engineered to address the particular challenges posed by typhoon-prone waters, where wave heights, wind loads, and storm intensity far exceed the conditions facing most existing floating wind installations.

Gazelle Wind Power says the design retains the counterweight-based mooring principle that has been central to the company's earlier work while incorporating a series of structural and mechanical changes intended to improve performance under these extreme conditions.

The revised configuration introduces a new hull geometry, upgraded articulated mooring frames, and a tripod support structure. According to Gazelle, these changes deliver improvements across several engineering dimensions simultaneously, including hydrodynamic performance, mooring flexibility, and load distribution. At the same time, the company says the design reduces structural weight and increases damage tolerance compared to prior configurations.

Stability Results From Simulation and Basin Testing

One of the central engineering challenges for any floating wind platform is controlling the motion of the structure in heavy seas. Excessive roll and pitch can place enormous stress on the turbine, the tower, and the mooring system and can reduce the operational availability of the turbine during storm events.

Gazelle Wind Power says simulations of the new design show roll and pitch remaining below five degrees under the extreme conditions assessed during the development process.

The company has also completed basin testing of the new design, which involves physical scale-model trials in a controlled wave tank environment. Gazelle describes the early results from those tests as encouraging, though it has not provided detailed numerical outcomes from the basin trials beyond the simulation figures already disclosed.

Cost Reduction as a Central Design Objective

Beyond the engineering performance targets, Gazelle Wind Power says preliminary costing of the new platform points to material reductions in both capital expenditure and levelized cost of energy.

The company has not disclosed specific cost figures or percentage reductions, but the claim that both CAPEX and LCOE are meaningfully reduced suggests the structural changes, including the reduction in overall weight, are expected to translate into lower manufacturing and installation costs.

Floating offshore wind has long faced questions about its economic competitiveness compared to fixed-bottom installations, which benefit from decades of industrial scale and supply chain development.

The ability to reduce structural material while maintaining or improving performance in extreme conditions would represent a meaningful step toward addressing those cost challenges, particularly in markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan where deep water and typhoon risk make fixed-bottom wind impossible or impractical at scale.

Partnership With a Major Asian Utility

Gazelle Wind Power has confirmed that the new design was developed in partnership with a major Asian utility, though it has not named the organization. The project is described as a large-scale floating offshore wind deployment, indicating that the work is oriented toward commercial-scale development rather than a pilot or demonstration installation.

The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as one of the most strategically important markets for floating offshore wind, driven by a combination of deep coastal waters, ambitious renewable energy targets, and the presence of large established utilities with the financial capacity to fund early-stage commercial deployments.

Countries including Japan and South Korea have set significant floating wind targets as part of their broader energy transition strategies, and several major utilities in the region have been exploring technology partnerships to accelerate development timelines.

Core Technology Principles Retained

While the new design introduces several changes, Gazelle Wind Power has been explicit that the counterweight-based mooring principle that defines its platform concept has been retained in the updated configuration.

The counterweight approach is a distinguishing feature of Gazelle's technology, intended to provide passive stability by using the weight and geometry of the mooring system to resist platform motion rather than relying solely on hull buoyancy or active control systems.

The introduction of articulated mooring frames is described as an upgrade to the existing mooring architecture, with the articulation providing greater flexibility in how loads are transferred from the platform to the seabed anchor points.

The tripod support structure, which connects the turbine tower to the floating hull, is presented as another change that contributes to improved load distribution across the overall system.

Announcement at WindEnergy Hamburg

Gazelle Wind Power made the announcement of the new platform design coinciding with WindEnergy Hamburg, the major international wind industry trade fair.

The company confirmed it is present at the event at stand B4.EG.129, where representatives are available to discuss the new design in further detail with industry participants attending the Hamburg event.

Powering Your Pipeline: Stay Ahead of Asia-Pacific's Energy Boom

The Asia-Pacific power sector is expanding at a pace that leaves little room for guesswork; new generation capacity, grid modernization programs, and renewable energy mandates are reshaping the competitive landscape faster than ever before.

For developers, contractors, and investors operating across this dynamic region, the difference between winning work and missing out often comes down to the quality and timeliness of your project intelligence. Knowing where investment is flowing, which tenders are live, and which contracts have already been awarded is no longer a luxury; it is a baseline requirement.

The Global Project Tracking (GPT) platform by Blackridge Research gives power sector professionals a single, structured source of truth across every stage of the project lifecycle in Asia-Pacific, helping you identify opportunities early and act with confidence.

• Upcoming Projects

• Tender Notices

• Contract Awards

• Projects Under Construction

• Completed Projects

See how the Global Project Tracking (GPT) platform by Blackridge Research can sharpen your market strategy across the Asia-Pacific power sector. Book a Free Demo with our team today.