The Carbon Trust has launched a series of tenders to assess technology challenges associated with floating offshore wind.
The studies are part of the Trust’s flagship Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), a joint industry project involving nine offshore wind developers representing 76% of Europe’s installed capacity and backed by the Scottish Government. Current industry partners are DONG Energy, EnBW, E.ON, Iberdrola, innogy, SSE, Statkraft, Statoil and Vattenfall.
The four projects being tendered include assessments of electrical systems, mooring systems, and logistical challenges in large arrays of floating wind turbines.
Electrical System Challenges The key objective of this project is to undertake an assessment of the key electrical system challenges for floating wind farms, including deepwater substations, dynamic cables, cable connectors, and array cable layout and burial.
Mooring System Challenges The key objective of this project is to undertake an assessment of the key challenges and opportunities for optimisation in the mooring systems for floating offshore wind farms, including both catenary and tension configurations, anchors, and associated auxiliary components.
Infrastructural and Logistical Challenges The key objective of this project is to undertake an assessment of the key infrastructure requirements and logistical challenges for the construction and maintenance of commercial-scale floating offshore wind farms.
Cable Condition Assessment Competition The key objective is to find novel ideas for monitoring subsea cables to reduce the risk of damage during installation and operation, which will lower the cost of offshore wind deployment.
Current available solutions are not able to detect and monitor mechanical cable limits with the required accuracy , so the OWA is searching for new systems and technology ideas from complementary industries such as telecommunications, civil engineering, automotive and oil and gas which could be adapted for subsea cable application.
Looking at £213 million in insurance losses from 28 UK offshore wind claims between 2002 and 2015, 68% were directly due to cable faults occurring, predominately during the construction phase.
The Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) is the Carbon Trust's flagship collaborative research, development and deployment programme, designed to impact the levelised cost of energy (LCoE) from offshore wind by reducing costs, improving efficiency and availability of existing and future offshore wind farms. The OWA is a joint industry project, involving nine offshore wind developers representing 76% of Europe’s installed capacity, and backed by the Scottish Government. Current industry partners are DONG Energy, EnBW, E.ON, Iberdrola, innogy, SSE, Statkraft, Statoil and Vattenfall.
Rhodri James, Manager at the Carbon Trust commented:
“Floating wind presents an opportunity to harness strong wind resource in deep water locations, unlocking new markets for offshore wind. However, a number of novel challenges will need to be addressed in order to deploy floating wind turbines at commercial scale. The projects will aim to assess these challenges and identify future innovation priorities for the sector.”
Deadline for submission of tenders is 10th February 2017 – click here for more information about the projects and tender documentation.
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