The offshore wind resources globally present a great opportunity for green power generation. Both types, fixed and floating foundations, will play a major role in utilizing these resources. The preliminary design of the floating system called GICON (R)-Tension Leg Platform (UP) is meant to provide a solution for harnessing the power of offshore wind at water depths between 20 m and 350 m. In addition a design for water depth up to 700 m is currently under development. The research project is a joint development of private industry and academic institutions. The main partners are ESG GmbH and Technische Universitat Freiberg. Currently ongoing research includes the comparison of calculated data with experimental data obtained by wave tank experiments with a scale model at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) in June 2013. These tests have provided insights regarding the dynamic characteristics of the GICON (R)-TLP by analyzing the system's response to different load cases. Furthermore, the results of the scale model tests at MARIN have confirmed that a superposition of the internal forces for wind and wave loads can be assumed for the structural design. This can be traced back to the stiffness of the mooring line system and the innovative mooring line configuration. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights