In many cases the development of offshore wind farms is concentrated on permission issues for a long periode.

However, for the customer (developers/utilities), it should be important to see the possibilities and limitations already at an early stage. The most promising elements (turbines, towers, foundations) should be included to be able to assess the possibilities:

- an early cost estimate can be important for further decisions (proceed/not proceed?)
- further planning to e.g. soil data can be concept specific
- restrictions based upon knowledge on concepts can be important for e.g. water depth range. Is very shallow water necessarily optimum, or could deeper water than commonly accepted be an advantage?

In a total approach, e.g. deeper water could be compensated by:

• simpler grid connection
• less environmental concern
• simpler installation conditions
• avoid breaking waves
• simpler soil conditions
• less scour

And what is the optimum turbine size. In the end the cost per MWh is if importance. In this connection there will be an optimum solution where the cost of the turbine, cables and the foundation/tower could be considered in a parametric way.

With its long experience with a complete approach, OWEC Tower could be a co-operation partner already early in the development process.