ADDRESSING THE NEW CHALLENGES FOR O&M OF FLOATING WIND TURBINE SYSTEMS

authored by: Mareike Leimeister, David Baumgärtner, Thilo Grotebrune, Arndt Hildebrandt, Jonas Kaczenski
Abstract: Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are an essential technology for effectively exploiting the wind energy potential in deeper waters and could pave the way for rapid future growth of the offshore renewable energy market. Unlike the knowledge of accessibility and availability of bottom-fixed offshore wind farms, this information is relatively unknown for FOWTs and therefore subject to great uncertainty. Environmental conditions, type of transport vehicle, type of landing system or walk-to-work solutions, and floater geometry above and below the waterline are the main influencing factors for operation and maintenance (O&M) activities on FOWTs. Additionally, the human factor is more important in assessing the accessibility and maintainability of FOWTs. Knowledge, analysis, and modeling of relevant direct and relative motions of vessels, floaters, and their combined behavior are essential fundamentals for O&M. Finally, predicting the accessibility and availability of FOWTs is key to accurately assessing the developer's and operator's return on investment. Thus, this paper aims at providing guidelines on requirements for improving the maintainability and availability of FOWTs, including a proposed approach and potential toolchain. These recommendations are based on a case study investigating the different motion behaviors of vessels and FOWTs, and subsequently derived critical aspects for O&M activities on FOWTs.
Organisation(s): Ludwig-Franzius-Institute of Hydraulics, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering
External Organisation(s): Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES)
Type: Conference contribution
No. of pages: 11
Publication date: 26.01.2024
Publication status: E-pub ahead of print
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Mechanical Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality, Modelling and Simulation, Numerical Analysis
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1115/IOWTC2023-119220 (Access: Closed)