Ingeteam is developing a tool to reduce operation and maintenance costs and risks at offshore wind farms
Ingeteam is working on a project to develop a new software tool to make it possible to calculate the optimal O&M strategies and reduce cost uncertainty of the operation of offshore wind farms, thereby opening up new market opportunities.
The project, named “Poseidom”, has a total budget of 643.703 € and is financed by the Ministry of Economy & Competitiveness under the 2016 Challenges-Collaboration program.
At present, offshore wind farms represent a challenge to investors. Construction costs are high, while operation and maintenance, needed to guarantee production, depends on sea conditions to allow access to the turbines. By way of example, the base cost per day of a vessel to transfer 12 technicians to a turbine, navigating in frequently difficult conditions, can be more than 6.000 €. In situations of this type, the order of magnitude changes when materials are transported or major corrective services are performed. In the case of a Jack-up vessel, the mobilisation cost is around 800,000 € and the daily rate can amount to approximately 140.000€, (according to data from the European Leanwind project). Work is currently focussed on new designs for service and construction vessels that will make it possible to cut costs. All the same, costs vary tremendously depending on the contract type, the wind farm location in relation to the port, vessel availability and the time of year. Taking all this into account, predictive maintenance together with logistics optimisation, are key to reducing the OPEX and, therefore, the cost of the energy (LCoE) generated by offshore wind farms.
In the course of 2016, the offshore wind power industry installed 1,558 MW in Europe, making a cumulative total power capacity of 12,631 MW. Offshore wind farm O&M related costs account for up to 25% of total costs. Once the Poseidom project has been completed, it will be possible to optimize and improve strategies and equipment in order to achieve considerable cost savings.
In partnership with the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of Cantabria (IHCantabria) and the marine energy company, EnerOcean, Ingeteam is looking to reduce the operational and financial risks associated with offshore wind farms. With this aim in mind, the Poseidom project will develop an innovative decision-making support tool with the following capabilities:
Analysis of the meteo-oceanic conditions at offshore wind farms.
Analysis of transportability to the farm by sea.
Analysis of the safe transfer between vessel and platform.
Comparison between the different types of fixed and floating platforms, with regard to wind farm accessibility and the transfer of technical personnel.
5Identification of market niches through an O&M atlas.
Source:Ingeteam
