offshore wind journal 2q 2016

Journal

2nd Quarter 2016 www.owjonline.com

“To create true parity with other renewable technologies, offshore wind needs longer-term tax credits, such as extending the Investment Tax Credit through 2025”Senator Edward J Markey, US Senator for Massachusetts, see page 10

Fast growth prompts publication of offshore access guidelines

Budget could make UK subsidy free in a decade

Potential of scanning LIDAR assessed in OWA tests

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For more articles visit www.owjonline.com Offshore Wind Journal | 2nd Quarter 2016

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Regulars5 COMMENT6 BEST OF THE WEB

Area reports8 With the cost of energy from offshore wind continuing to fall, analysts suggest that the government’s end game is that the industry should be subsidy free just 10 years from now 10 The offshore wind industry in the US is said to be at a tipping point, with numerous projects being proposed on the east coast12 April 2016 saw the tendering procedure for the Borssele I and II offshore windfarms in The Netherlands get underway, with tenders for sites III, IV and V expected later this year

Foundations14 The developers of a new type of foundation for offshore wind turbines believe their proven design can open up deepwater areas and help reduce costs

Turbines & turbine technology 16 Siemens has won the contract to provide the turbines for the East Anglia ONE project in the UK

Floating offshore wind 18 With its experience from offshore oil and gas, Norwegian industry has much to offer the evolving market for floating offshore wind energy

Offshore access/walk-to-work21 The fast-growing level of offshore wind operations and maintenance activity is driving innovation in windfarm support vessels and offshore access systems

Corrosion control24 Solutions have been proposed to tackle leading edge erosion and the corrosion that can result from it

Energy storage 26 Statoil is planning to test battery storage technology on the Hywind Scotland project

Grid connection28 The technology required to developed meshed HVDC grids is being examined in the EU-funded PROMOTioN project

contents2nd Quarter 2016volume 5 issue 2

Offshore Wind Journal | 2nd Quarter 2016 For more articles visit www.owjonline.com

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Technology31 Accio Energy is developing innovative ‘turbine free’ technology that it claims will one day halve the cost of offshore wind energy

Floating offshore wind 35 A team of researchers at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-BarcelonaTech) have created an innovative wind turbine design based on a floating concrete platform

Operations & maintenance36 Unmanned aerial systems are being tested in a German project that aims to address corrosion in the offshore wind industry

Lidar38 February 2016 saw the start of what is claimed to be the largest ever trial of scanning lidar technology

Innovations40 The Met Office in the UK has extended the range of products it provides for the offshore industry with new offerings that have quickly been adopted in the wind energy sector

Finance43 Macquarie Bank says that, although it may be challenging for many forms of renewables in Europe to obtain finance, that it is not the case with offshore wind

Ports & logistics44 German ports are gearing up for further work in the offshore wind energy market and investing in new facilities

Turbine support vessels46 The potential effects of fatigue have long been appreciated in the shipping industry, but are they understood by the offshore wind energy industry?

Profile48 Maf Smith, RenewableUK's sees potential opportunities for workers in the offshore oil and gas sector in offshore wind energy

Front cover photo: The market for offshore access/walk-to-work systems continues to grow and has prompted class society Bureau Veritas to issue guidelines for the equipment

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COMMENT | 5

David Foxwell, Editor

Wind best served by staying in Europe

O pinions differ widely on the potential impact of a ‘Yes’ vote in the so-called ‘Brexit’ referendum in the UK on 23

June. The referendum will ask the British people to vote whether they want to stay in or leave the European Union (EU). If the UK votes to leave the EU, it has been suggested, investment by leading offshore wind manufacturers in the UK could be jeopardised. Hull could, say some, lose out on future offshore wind investment if it does not listen to the warnings from Siemens about the potential costs of leaving the EU. Siemens is building a wind turbine blade factory in the city. In contrast, Dong Energy has publicly stated that a decision to leave the EU would not derail plans it has announced to invest £6 billion in offshore windfarms in the UK. More recently, it has also been suggested that Brexit would put the EU’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions at risk. Too little attention has been paid to the EU’s contribution to tackling climate change by referendum campaigners, it is claimed. The UK’s climate and energy policies have been significantly shaped by EU membership. Most significantly, the EU’s targets for renewable energy (requiring the UK to achieve a 15 per cent share by 2020) have led governments to adopt a much more interventionist energy policy, including new financial support mechanisms.

Some legal experts believe that the UK’s renewable energy industry could be harmed by Brexit with the loss of incentives to develop a low carbon economy. Law firm Pinsent Masons said a vote to leave Europe could remove legally binding carbon-free targets, which in turn could dilute the political will to deliver green power. The firm warned of the paradox facing the UK renewable sector if it opts for Brexit. “It is a huge contradiction that Brexit could result in a system where it is easier to develop renewables infrastructure in the UK, but at the same time there could be no strong incentive to make it happen,” it said. “There is good and bad for the industry in terms of the UK’s current relationship with the EU. The downside is that some segments of the market – for instance, onshore and offshore wind – are over-regulated, with the

EU imposing particular requirements, which means the development process needs to be conducted in a particular way and a layer of constraints and extra costs are introduced.” Pinsent Masons also highlighted the fact that the removal of restrictive state aid rules could have a significant impact on the renewables industry, while a new trade relationship could transform the profile of players in the UK wind sector. “It is striking that much of the current investment and financing for renewables comes from outside the UK,” it noted, “and a significant proportion of the major players in UK renewables are owned by European parents. For those subsidiaries of European businesses, or those reliant upon foreign investment, there will be concern over potential trade barriers, which could make the UK a less attractive investment proposition.”

The Renewables Consulting Group (RCG) said it believed that offshore wind could be adversely affected should the UK vote to leave the EU in the referendum later this year. “Whilst estimates suggest UK level regulation is 2.5 times more cost effective than EU regulation, a Brexit scenario is expected to leave the UK with little influence over EU energy regulation but still largely regulated by it,” said RCG. “Evidence suggests regulatory divergence will grow over time leaving the offshore wind supply chain less competitive against their European counterparts. Failure to understand the implications of a Brexit on the offshore wind industry and nascent marine renewables sector (wave and tidal power) could be costly, says RCG.

In Europe, energy security is increasingly taking the form of ‘links’ or interconnectors of one sort of another between European nations. Increasingly, the electricity in question that will provide energy security will come from offshore windfarms, in the UK and outside the UK. Purely from the point of view of energy security, it makes sense to remain part of an increasingly interconnected European energy grid. It also makes sense to remain in Europe if the UK wants to continue to develop its fast-growing green economy and influence the climate change debate within and outside Europe. OWJ

“It is striking that much of the current investment and financing for renewables comes from outside the UK”

Growing role for offshore wind as China aims to reduce emissions

Industry analyst Douglas-Westwood (DW) says it expects China’s plan to reduce emissions and make growing use of renewable energy will make it a leading developer of offshore wind energy. DW’s World Offshore Wind Market Forecast suggests that continued growth in renewable energy installations will see China become a key offshore market worldwide, installing over 10GW of offshore wind capacity to 2025.

“As the main driver of global energy demand growth, China accounted for 23 per cent of world energy use in 2014,” said DW. “BP expects this share to rise to 25 per cent by 2035. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, despite a decline of 3.7 per cent in coal consumption in 2015, the energy source still supplied 64 per cent of primary energy use, with China accounting for half of global coal consumption.”.

http://bit.ly/1Tsvtpw

France to launch third offshore wind tender

France’s energy minister Segolene Royal has confirmed that the French Government is to launch a third tender to build offshore windfarms in French waters. She said the third round of French tenders for offshore wind would see construction of a windfarm offshore Dunkirk, although she did not specify the size of the tender or provide a date for when bidding would close.

As previously reported, an extensive consultation process has taken place, which slightly delayed tenders for Round 3 as the French Government attempted to rein in costs and adopt a new, more competitive strategy. Round 1 and 2 of France’s offshore wind programme were characterised by a desire on the part of the French state to create jobs in the country and to advance the use of French technology. The way the tenders were constructed succeeded in

doing so, but it is now widely recognised that this approach also led to much higher costs than an open tender process would have done.

The French Government has stated its intention to award contracts that would enable a total of 6GW of offshore wind capacity by 2023. A total of 3GW was awarded in Rounds 1 and 2.

http://bit.ly/1YPQzjk

Atlantic Pioneer gets to work at Block Island

The first US-built and operated offshore wind crew transfer vessel was named during a ceremony at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, in April. Following the naming ceremony, Atlantic Pioneer, which is owned and operated by Atlantic Wind Transfers, the commercial wind support services arm of Rhode Island Fast Ferry, was due to embark on the first phase of a 20-year charter to support the construction and operation of the Block Island offshore windfarm, which is under construction by developer Deepwater Wind off the coast of

Rhode Island. It will be the first offshore windfarm in US waters and is due for completion in the fourth quarter of 2016.

http://bit.ly/OWJ-Atlan

Vestas challenges scaling rules with multi-rotor concept demonstration turbine

In co-operation with the Technical University of Denmark, Vestas is installing a concept demonstrator to test the technical feasibility to operate and control a multi-rotor turbine. The concept is not being developed with the offshore wind energy market specifically in mind but could one day have applications in it.

“Continuing to reduce the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) over the long term will require new solutions and a new way of thinking,” said Vestas. “With this concept demonstrator, we are challenging the core scaling rules that turbines have to grow in size to increase their energy output as well as transport and installation challenges in some markets,” noting that several load and control features will need to be developed, tested and

BEST OF THE WEB owjonline.com


6 | BEST OF THE WEB

China will become the world leader in offshore wind energy in due course, says DW


BEST OF THE WEB | 7

proven to assess the technical and – eventually – commercial feasibility of the concept.

With the Technical University of Denmark as a research partner, the multi-rotor concept demonstrator is being erected at the Risø test site near Roskilde, Denmark, where it will be studied closely in the coming years.

http://bit.ly/OWJ-Atlan

Saipem is latest oil and gas contractor to enter offshore wind market

Saipem, long known as a contractor in the offshore oil and gas industry, has been awarded new contracts cumulatively valued at approximately €430 million, including its first contract in the offshore wind industry.

The contracts awarded to the Italian company include one from Statoil, Norway’s state oil company, which is also investing in renewables, for the lift and mating operations of offshore floating wind turbines for the Hywind Scotland project. Saipem highlighted that contracts such as that for Hywind are reducing its dependence on the offshore oil sector, where activity levels have fallen precipitously since the oil price crash.

http://bit.ly/1SmRIOE

Hexicon share issue oversubscribed

Hexicon AB in Sweden, which is developing a multi-turbine foundation for floating offshore windfarms, has successfully completed an SEK25 million (US$3.1 million) share issue to help enable the ongoing development of the platform. The company said the share issue amounted to SEK20 million (US$2.5 million), but the board of directors at Hexicon had decided to execute an oversubscription option that raised another SEK5 million (US$600,000).

As previously highlighted in OWJ, Hexicon is developing a semi-submersible platform for floating offshore windfarms. The platform is designed to enable cost-effective series production and will enable offshore windfarms to be established in greater water depths than is possible with conventional foundations.

http://bit.ly/OWJ-Hex

A2SEA to focus on core business

Turbine and foundation installation specialist A2SEA says it plans to focus on its core business in future and sell its cable installation and crew transfer vessel businesses. In a statement, the company said employees had been informed of the changes. This means that the company’s cable installation business CT Offshore will not take on any more projects, and all of its vessels and equipment will be sold. The vessels Sea Power and Sea Jack will be laid up and sold. Crew transfer vessels will no longer be part of A2SEA’s product portfolio.

As a result, a considerable number of employees at A2SEA and CT Offshore are expected to be made redundant. As a part of the restructuring, A2SEA’s chief operating officer Hans Schneider will no longer be a part of the executive committee at the company and has decided to continue his career outside it.

http://bit.ly/1TsvGsW

EnBW teams with Siemens and DEME for Kriegers Flak offshore windfarm

EnBW, Siemens Financial Services and DEME Concessions Wind are to work together to bid for the Kriegers Flak offshore windfarm in Denmark. The German utility company said DEME Concessions Wind and Siemens Financial Services are to work with project company Kriegers Flak ApS, which EnBW formed specifically for the Kriegers Flak project. Siemens Financial Services has acquired 32.5 per cent and DEME Concessions Wind 17.5 per cent of the shares in Kriegers Flak ApS.

http://bit.ly/OWJKrieger

RWE’s renewables subsidiary inaugurated

As expected, RWE’s new subsidiary, which focuses on renewables, grids and retail – including its offshore wind portfolio – began operating on 1 April 2016. The company bears the temporary name RWE International SE and bundles together the three business areas in Germany and internationally. Peter Terium, in his dual role as chief executive of both RWE AG and

the new subsidiary, said, “The founding of our subsidiary and the planned IPO are mammoth tasks. Thanks to the excellent preparatory work done by our employees, we are, however, right on schedule.” On completion of the restructuring process, the new subsidiary is likely to generate annual revenues of around €40 billion and have around 40,000 employees. These figures are based on the RWE segment results for fiscal 2015.

http://bit.ly/OWJ-RWE

UK offshore wind project pipeline further strengthened

The Crown Estate has announced agreements with offshore wind developers ScottishPower Renewables, Vattenfall and Dong Energy, which have reconfigured or identified new projects within their respective Round 3 offshore wind development zones. Since the award of zone agreements in 2009, developers have had exclusive rights to areas of UK seabed to identify the best locations to develop large-scale offshore wind projects. With this appraisal phase now largely complete, developer focus is shifting to the development and delivery of the resulting projects.

http://bit.ly/1SHEluH

Offshore wind will provide significant opportunities in southern North Sea

Offshore wind opens up a “sea of opportunities” for UK suppliers, according to Bruce Valpy of BVG Associates. Mr Valpy was speaking at SNS2016, an event organised by East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) in Norwich.

“The offshore wind industry knows it has to reduce costs to get continued support,” said Mr Valpy. “This means there are lots of opportunities for innovative companies to sell their ideas.” He welcomed the shift in industry conversations from “how much subsidy can we get” to “how quickly can we get free of subsidies”. To achieve subsidy-free levels of generation, innovation is vital, he said. The offshore wind industry already has a strong track record of cost reduction and is always keen to adopt new ideas that increase efficiency.

http://bit.ly/1WlsNMR


BUDGET SETS COURSE FOR OFFSHORE WIND TO BE ‘SUBSIDY FREE’ IN A DECADE

With the cost of energy from offshore wind continuing to fall, analysts suggest that the government’s end game is that the industry should be subsidy free just 10 years from now

After much speculation about when and if it would do so, the UK Government has made an important

commitment to new auctions for future offshore windfarms. Commenting on the UK budget speech on 16 March 2016, RenewableUK’s deputy chief executive Maf Smith said. “We welcome the chancellor’s announcement that funding will be available for future rounds of competitive auctions to support offshore windfarms. The budget is tight, but we’re up for the challenge. We are confident that today’s announcement will deliver 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of new offshore wind capacity between 2021 and 2025.

“This budget shows that offshore wind will be cheaper than new nuclear power and competing with gas by 2025, making it even better value for money. The industry is playing its part continuing to drive down costs relentlessly – we released a report this

week showing in detail how we’re ahead of what was predicted,” he said. “Today’s announcement will increase confidence, attracting billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s supply chain. It is long-term commitments such as this that will keep the UK as the number one destination in the world for investors in this technology.”

Shortly after the decision was announced in the budget, Chris Willow, an associate director at BVG Associates, said the budget statement contained some long-anticipated clarity on the support offshore wind can expect to receive in the next decade but also revealed a stark reality for the UK offshore wind industry – it has until the middle of the 2020s to reach cost parity with combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs).

“For projects being commissioned in 2021, the government has capped the strike price for a contract for difference (CFD) at

8 | UK

Analysis by BVG Associates suggests that the UK has until the middle of the 2020s to reach cost parity with combined-cycle gas turbines


UK | 9

£105/MWh. Our modelling suggests this is equivalent to a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of £97 to £100/MWh, depending on factors such as project lifetime and the cost of capital. For projects being commissioned in 2026, the strike price falls to £85/MWh, which is equivalent to an LCOE of £80 to £82/MWh. Note that all these costs are in 2011/12 prices,” he explained.

“This level of support shows the government is pushing the industry to go beyond its previous expectations of what could be achieved. In the 2012 Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Pathways Study, The Crown Estate said the industry should reach an LCOE of £100/MWh for projects reaching final investment decision (FID) in 2020 if it had confidence in a market of sufficient volume.

“Assuming the lag between FID and commissioning is approximately three years, the government now expects the industry to reach this milestone two years ahead of schedule and with a significantly smaller market volume than industry had said was needed. The main reason why this has been possible has been the faster than expected uptake of larger turbines, accelerating LCOE reduction. Importantly, there is still the challenge that this progress in turbines masks slower cost reduction in other areas of supply due to the lower market volume and visibility.

“Looking to projects with FID in 2023 that will be commissioned in 2026,” said Mr Willow, “our modelling shows the strike price of £85 per MWh would take offshore wind to approximate parity with the LCOE of CCGT (based on the most recent DECC forecasts of gas and carbon prices). As CCGT is currently the most viable large-scale generation technology, this effectively means offshore wind can be seen as ‘subsidy free’ by this point. These announcements have established a new landscape for the UK’s offshore wind industry. Developers will either be able to hit the government’s new cost curve towards cost parity, or their projects do not get support. There are a number of reasons, however, why the industry is likely to welcome this latest news. Firstly, it gives some visibility of activity beyond 2020, which should help the supply chain to make some level of investment in infrastructure and equipment. Secondly, it is robust, independent evidence showing that offshore wind is on a path towards becoming subsidy free.

“Having led much of the industry engagement and modelling for The Crown Estate’s 2012 study, our latest modelling also now suggests that industry will actually have a good chance of exceeding these aggressive new targets. It is worth noting, however, that this level of LCOE reduction will be

dependent on the ongoing development of a sustainable UK market. Realistically, this needs to involve at least 1GW of deployment a year with up to five years of project-scale visibility and a longer-term market-scale logic of how offshore wind, with its cost trajectory, fits with other technologies on their cost trajectories. We anticipate that the government will give more clarity on these issues in its next carbon budget.”

At about the time that the budget statement was made, a new report has provided strong evidence that the cost of energy from offshore wind continued to fall through 2015 and remains on track to deliver the target of £100/MWh by 2020. It also identifies forthcoming announcements on timing and scale of future CFD auctions and long-term capacity requirements as key enablers of further cost reduction.

The second annual Cost Reduction Monitoring Framework (CRMF) report, delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult on behalf of the Offshore Wind Programme Board, shows that investment in turbine technology has delivered significant cost benefits, but further reduction will need to come from the innovations in ‘balance of plant’, such as foundations, cables and substations.

Investment in research and development and manufacturing industrialisation to deliver such improvements, the report warns, will only come with greater visibility of future rates of deployment and market size as the government sets out details of contracts for new offshore windfarms. The report was released at the same time as the UK Parliament reviews the fifth Carbon Budget of the Committee on Climate Change, which projects that offshore wind costs will be below new nuclear and new gas plant by 2025.

UK energy minister Andrea Leadsom said, “The UK offshore wind industry continues to

go from strength to strength, and I’m delighted to see further evidence that costs are continuing to come down. Reductions in cost will mean better value for hard-working bill payers and are essential if this industry is to thrive.” Benj Sykes, industry co-chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council, said, “We have continued to see excellent progress in reducing the cost of clean energy from offshore wind. The industry is fast-tracking adoption of new innovation in turbine design and in project operations, putting us ahead of the curve in efforts to bring down the cost of offshore wind. We are very confident that we can not only reach our £100/MWh milestone but go beyond this to become fully cost competitive with other generation technologies. We welcome the UK Government’s continued strong support for the offshore wind sector, recognising it as a major contributor to the nation’s future energy mix. The report shows that further clarity on the timing and volume of future CFD auctions, and the longer-term capacity requirements out to 2030 and beyond, is essential for the industry to galvanise the activity that will deliver further innovation and cost reductions.”

Of the 13 cost reduction indicators in the report, all but one is ahead or on target with the milestone set for 2015. The only measure that is behind target is growth and scale. Findings show that industry has already adopted innovations that were not previously expected to significantly drive cost reduction until 2017, particularly in the areas of turbine design and project maintenance. The report also assessed the degree of confidence that the industry has in delivering further cost savings. It found high confidence of delivery in eight of the indicators, with medium confidence in a further three, to achieve the milestone of £100/MWh in 2020. Such confidence has brought a commitment from the government to work with the industry on agreeing a new, ambitious cost-reduction target for the 2020s. OWJ

Offshore wind will be cheaper than new nuclear power and competing with gas by 2025, it is claimed


10 | US

Late February’s US Offshore Wind Leadership Conference

in Boston “had the vibe of a technology sector ready to break out,” according to a recent comment by James Wrathall and Hayden Baker at Sullivan & Worcester. Industry leaders, federal officials and a panel of Massachusetts legislators extolled the economic opportunities. “Offshore wind is garnering more than just hype in 2016. Key developments have this once fledgling energy source poised to finally gain momentum in the US,” they said. “The merits of offshore wind in the US are compelling.”

At the conference, representatives of Dong Energy and other developers active in US waters described the enormous wind potential of the mid-Atlantic and New England coastlines, focusing on the proximity to underserved energy demand around major urban centres. Siemens US Offshore Wind director Jason

Folsom discussed a recent study demonstrating the overwhelming economic value of offshore wind relative to conventional power generation when all costs and benefits are considered – even before taking into account greenhouse gas reductions. Comparing cost curves to other renewable energy technologies in the US marketplace, industry observers expressed confidence that, as the industry ramps up, there will be sufficient competition to quickly drive down the costs of installation and transmission.

With backing from DE Shaw, Deepwater Wind is on schedule to complete its Rhode Island Block Island windfarm later this year. The 30 megawatt (MW), five-turbine project will be the first to come online in US waters. Block Island is only a precursor to the larger projects currently slated for Massachusetts by Dong Energy, Deepwater Wind and Blackstone-backed OffshoreMW, each of which

holds a sizeable federal lease south of Martha’s Vineyard.

“The US industry appears at a tipping point,” they said. “Sophisticated, experienced developers are ready with mature technology, supportive regulators and abundant wind resources located near load centres.” However, they noted, the sector needs sufficient reliable demand to justify the massive supply chain investments necessary to scale up development.

“As the necessary parties for offshore wind step into place, the desire for coastal wind resources, particularly in New England, is becoming acute,” said Messrs Wrathall and Baker. “Major coal and oil fleet retirements in ISO New England alone are expected to drive at least 3,500MW of new capacity demand by 2018 – and the ISO estimates several thousand more megawatts are at risk of retirement by 2020. Natural gas plants are not a viable replacement at this scale without significant

investment in pipeline infrastructure, leaving offshore wind and imported Canadian hydropower as the primary options for new energy resources in the region.

“Responding to these factors, Massachusetts legislators reported they expect to announce a comprehensive energy bill this spring. The sector is poised to receive a huge boost if the bill promotes long term utility purchases of offshore wind energy – and assuming it becomes law,” they noted. “A strong Massachusetts bill could be a prompt for other states, particularly New York, and set the stage for regional cooperation on supply chain development and transmission. Recognising that the US industry would benefit from a longer ‘glide path’ to achieve those lower rates, Senator Markey also touted his forthcoming proposal to extend the 30 per cent federal investment tax credit for offshore wind until 2025.”

Offshore wind in the US “at a tipping point”Experts at law firm Sullivan & Worcester LLP claim the US offshore wind industry is at a tipping point, particularly given the huge scale of projects being proposed on the east coast of the US


US | 11

As Senator Markey recently wrote, “To create true parity with other renewable technologies, offshore wind needs longer-term tax credits. For instance, a proposal put forward by Senators Markey and Whitehouse would extend the Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind through 2025 to give this industry sufficient time to develop these projects. Another proposal from Senators Carper and Collins, S.1736, the Incentivizing Offshore Wind Power Act, would allow the first 3,000MW of offshore projects to qualify for the ITC regardless of timing.”

While all eyes are on the Massachusetts energy bill for the next step, developers are positioning themselves for growth down the coast as well. In New Jersey, Dong Energy recently acquired from RES Offshore a lease in federal waters off the Garden State’s coast. Meanwhile across the Hudson River, Deepwater Wind is reportedly considering a waterfront terminal in Brooklyn to stage its offshore activities in the Empire State and to build up the regional infrastructure. In Maryland, US Wind’s proposed US$2 billion, 250MW project has passed initial screening tests and is in the process of qualifying for valuable credits under Maryland’s Offshore Wind Energy Act 2013.

“State policies supporting long term utility offtake agreements are the key to filling the project pipeline,” the lawyers reported. “But as the Massachusetts legislators reminded conference participants, short term electricity rates are the political measuring stick against which state energy proposals will be evaluated. Koch brother-supported opponents are well funded and undoubtedly will continue their grass roots strategy stoking fears of increasing electricity rates.

“The opportunity is huge, but given the broader political dynamics, business as usual

for offshore wind developers likely will not be sufficient. For offshore wind proponents, now is the time for redoubled public advocacy informing both politicians and the public alike of the vital stakes in this debate,” they concluded.

Recent weeks have also seen the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approve the first wind energy research activities plan (RAP) for a facility in US federal waters. In 2015, BOEM awarded a research lease to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Virginia. Approval for the RAP clears the way for the installation and operation of two 6MW turbines and associated cabling to shore, pending a final engineering review of the project. The RAP was developed by DMME’s operator, Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion Resources Inc).

Recent weeks have also seen BOEM take the first step towards granting a lease for a floating offshore windfarm in waters off California. The agency received an unsolicited lease request from Trident Winds LLC for a floating offshore wind project offshore Morro Bay and plans to issue a Federal Register Notice to determine if there is competitive interest in the area. As part of its review, BOEM confirmed that Trident Winds is legally, technically and financially qualified to hold an offshore wind energy lease. The Trident Winds request, received on 14 January 2016, is the first formal interest in obtaining a lease for wind development in federal waters off California. The proposed project would generate up to 800MW of power using approximately 100 floating foundations, each supporting a turbine that could produce up to 8MW. A single seabed export cable would bring the electricity to shore. The

proposal may be expanded to generate 1GW at a later date if additional transmission capacity and market offtake can be obtained. The project would be located about 33 nautical miles northwest of Morro Bay in water depths of 2,600–3,300ft (790–1,000m).

US secretary of the interior Sally Jewell and BOEM director Abigail Ross Hopper also recently announced a major step towards the development of offshore wind energy in federal waters offshore New York. BOEM has defined a wind energy area of approximately 81,130 acres (330 km2) for potential commercial wind energy development. The area is located about 11 miles (18km) south of Long Island. The wind energy area is based on a proposal by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) in 2011, when it submitted an application for a commercial wind lease. At that time, NYPA proposed installing up to 194 wind turbines, each of 3.6MW for a total potential yield of nearly 700MW of wind energy generation for the Long Island and New York City region.

March saw the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind release a report on the future cost of offshore wind for Massachusetts. The authors of the report noted that “along the Atlantic coast alone, offshore wind represents the most significant developable renewable energy resource for east coast states”. They claim that the east coast has potential for offshore wind power of more than 1,300 gigawatts of electricity generation. The report said that a commitment by the state of Massachusetts to develop offshore wind energy at a scale of 2,000MW – combined with ongoing technology and industry advances – will lower previously projected costs for the clean energy source as much as 54 percent in the next decade. OWJ

Senator Ed Markey and others have called for the extension of tax programmes to help spur the development of offshore wind energy

“State policies supporting long-term utility offtake agreements are the key to filling the project pipeline”


12 | THE NETHERLANDS

Amended Electricity Act clears way for Borssele I and IIApril 2016 saw the tendering procedure for the Borssele I and II offshore windfarms in The Netherlands get underway, with tenders for sites III, IV and V expected later this year

E arly April saw some important developments in the Dutch offshore wind market, including the start of the tendering procedure for the Borssele I and II offshore windfarms.

This followed the adoption in March 2016 of amendments to the Electricity Act 1998, which enable further development of offshore wind energy projects. Back in 2013, the Dutch Government signed an energy agreement with a wide range of parties involved in the energy market. The government aims to increase the country’s offshore wind capacity from 1,000MW to 4,500MW by 2023.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency said consortia wishing to respond to the tenders would have until May 2016 to do so and published a revised project and site description for Borssele I and II. With sites I and II the subject of the first Borssele tender, sites III, IV and V are expected to be tendered out in the second Borssele tender, which is currently scheduled for September/October 2016.

As previously highlighted in OWJ, the Borssele windfarm zone is divided into five sites, with sites I, II and IV having a capacity of 350MW. Site III is a 320MW zone, and site V is intended for innovation and demonstration projects and will be limited to 20MW.

The Dutch Government published the site decisions for the Borssele offshore windfarms in the Dutch Gazette or Staatscourant. The site decisions contain the construction and operating conditions for the windfarms and secure the sites for construction and subsequent operation. As highlighted above, the decisions allow for the preparation of an innovation site to demonstrate techniques that will reduce the cost of offshore wind energy. This particular site will host two turbines with a maximum combined capacity of 20 megawatts (MW) and will be tendered separately from the other sites. The site decisions are open to appeal until 20 May.

Representatives of law firm Baker & McKenzie noted that the Dutch transmission system operator TenneT also recently published the definitive drafts for its offshore agreements: a realisation agreement (or offshore REA), an offshore connection and transmission agreement (offshore CTA) and offshore general terms and conditions (offshore GTC). These drafts were established

through an extensive consultation process involving legal expert meetings organised by TenneT throughout the year. The offshore REA and CTA set out the terms for the realisation of a windfarm’s connection and the subsequent transport of electricity to the high voltage grid. Some of the provisions in the offshore REA and the CTA involve TenneT’s right to receive full reimbursement of costs and its rights to commissioning and compliance testing. The offshore REA and the CTA also contain a step-in provision for the lenders; to the extent required, TenneT indicates that it may enter into a direct agreement with the lenders.

Law firm Loyens & Loeff said the site decisions are subject to appeal and that, should an appeal occur, the competent administrative court will have to decide within a statutory period of six months if the appeal is valid or not. “If the appeals are dismissed by the court, irrevocable windfarm site decisions for Borssele I and II can be expected October 2016,” it explained. Earlier draft versions of the site decisions refer to the outcome of the environmental impact assessment that was performed in early 2015. The decisions contain provisions for limiting noise levels during construction and provide that production should be suspended during bird and bat migrations.

A number of foundation types are being considered for the wind turbines for sites I and II, including monopiles, tripods, jackets, gravity-based units and suction buckets. Abandonment and decommissioning obligations are also part of the draft decisions. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency website provides technical data, maps and results from site investigations to the extent available, including the project and site description of August 2015.

Loyens & Loeff said that newly inserted into the final site decisions for Borssele I and II (compared to the draft decisions) is an additional requirement for the permit holder to make an effort to design, build and to operate the windfarm in such a way that doing so will actively contribute to the reinforcement of the local and regional economy. For this purpose, a local and regional economy action plan needs to be submitted by developers. OWJ

Dutch plans to significantly increase its offshore wind energy capacity are moving ahead

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14 | FOUNDATIONS

Articulated column could make for low cost foundationThe developers of a new type of foundation for offshore wind turbines believe their proven design can open up deepwater areas and help reduce costs

M arine Engineering Energy Solutions (MEES), supported

by the Doris Group and its international engineering and operations support services subsidiary ODE, have designed an offshore wind turbine foundation that they believe can help boost nearshore deepwater development.

Taking technology that has been successfully used in the offshore oil and gas industry, MEES and ODE have developed the articulated wind column (AWC), an offshore wind foundation that the companies believe will unlock large areas of deep water around the world for economically viable offshore wind production.

In recognition of its potential application to the offshore renewables market, the AWC has been shortlisted in the UK Energy Innovation awards. It has been designed to provide structural support in offshore waters ranging from 45m to 200m for the largest wind turbines currently available (8MW).

“The AWC is based on a proven, robust technical solution suitable for the harshest environmental conditions. It has a simple installation and removal process, based on a design successfully used by the oil and gas sector in the North Sea for many years,” said ODE managing director Peter Godfrey. “It provides an excellent example of the ongoing transfer of skills and knowledge from the oil and gas industry to the renewables sector as we seek to develop viable alternatives to hydrocarbon use.”

The origins of the AWC’s design lay in the concrete articulated column developed by the Doris Group for the Maureen oil platform in the North Sea in the 1980s. The structure was operational until the field was decommissioned in 2001. In addition, a further 12 articulated loading columns were installed in the North Sea, some of which are still in operation.

The AWC structure consists of a compliant concrete vertical column and

the concrete base, which is located on the seabed. The two main parts are connected by an articulated joint, which allows rotation about both horizontal axes. The AWC uses the buoyancy in the deeper water to maintain the support structure near vertical, resisting the forces from wind, current and waves. It can be located where the power is needed, closer to shore, reducing significant installation and operation costs.

“The design enables the structures to be produced in high volumes and at lower cost concrete. It also allows for installation on an uneven seabed without the need for seabed preparation, delivering the potential for a lower levelised cost of energy when compared to conventional offshore wind solutions,” said the companies, noting that development of deepwater locations within the 25km range will allow for shorter cable connections to shore and eliminates the need for the adoption of transformer units, which would provide a significant

component to the overall development costs. Model testing at the Doris-associated Océanide facility in southern France has successfully been completed in extreme storm, operating and maintenance weather conditions.

MEES director Otto Carlisle said, “Conventional offshore wind and support structures are economically viable in 30–40m of water. This constraint significantly reduces the area around the UK and other countries in which windfarms can be located. It can also drive windfarms further from shore, which increases the levelised costs of energy. Successful tests and years of practical experience from deployment in the oil and gas industry have demonstrated that the AWC can be used as a means of support for large wind turbines in deeper water at relatively nearshore locations. This system now allows for the economic development of offshore wind technology at many near to shore sites around the world.” OWJ

MEES and Doris Group believe that the articulated wind column

could help open up offshore wind potential in deep water


Siemens secures East Anglia ONE turbine deal

16 | TURBINES & TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Siemens has secured a contract to supply turbines for the East Anglia ONE project in the UK and is on track to complete the development of the SWT-7.0-154 – its competitor MHI Vestas Offshore Wind now has three V164-8.0 MW turbines in operation

In late April 2016, Siemens confirmed that ScottishPower Renewables, a subsidiary of Iberdrola SA, had selected the SWT-

7.0-154 direct-drive offshore wind turbine for the 714-megawatt (MW) offshore windfarm, which will be the largest project in terms of capacity for which Siemens has so far supplied turbines. Siemens will also be responsible for servicing the windfarm for an initial period of five years.

“Siemens is delighted to work with ScottishPower Renewables on the East Anglia ONE offshore wind power plant,” said Michael Hannibal, CEO offshore of the Siemens wind power and renewables division. “This represents the largest single order ever for our direct-drive 7MW turbine.”

Siemens will supply its SWT-7.0-154 direct-drive wind turbines, which will be

installed on jacket-type foundations. The nacelles will be manufactured in Cuxhaven, Germany. Siemens plans to produce the turbine blades for East Anglia ONE at its Hull, UK facility. The port of Great Yarmouth will serve as the pre-assembly harbour for the project. The first wind turbines are scheduled to be installed in the summer of 2019, with the start of commercial operation scheduled for 2020.

Siemens’ long-term service agreement for East Anglia ONE includes remote monitoring and diagnostics services to help ensure the long-term reliability, performance and availability of the wind turbines. The company said that this approach will include the use of a helicopter that will be based near Lowestoft and used mainly in winter when the use of crew transfer vessels is not feasible.

Earlier, the company had announced that it had completed the type certification process for the turbine and that field testing of the SWT-7.0-154 had recently been extended with a second prototype. Grid performance, quality and safety are currently being tested on both machines.

Obtaining type certification marked the final milestone in the development process, allowing customers to make final investment decisions for offshore projects. Since many of the components in the new turbine are the same as those of the proven Siemens SWT-6.0-154 – including the 154m rotor – series production can now get underway and is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2017. While the first prototype, installed in summer 2015, was initially used for achieving the final type certificate, engineers are now able to use both prototypes for accelerated testing of all grid-related aspects such as performance, quality and safety. As the upgrades in the turbine consist mainly of changes to the permanent magnet generator, the power converter and medium voltage transformer, the start-up of both SWT-7.0-154 prototypes ran smoothly.

Siemens said that, whereas the generator’s permanent magnets and transformer

The Siemens SWT-7.0-154 direct-drive offshore wind turbine has been selected for the East Anglia ONE project in the UK


TURBINES & TURBINE TECHNOLOGY | 17

Researchers from the Research Alliance Wind Energy (FVWE) who participated in the Smart Blades project have developed new concepts for ‘intelligent’ rotor blades that can adapt to wind conditions. The project was a joint effort between researchers from the FVWE together with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Fraunhofer IWES and ForWind (the Centre for Wind Energy Research at the universities of Oldenburg, Hanover and Bremen).

Rotor blades on large turbines such as those used in the offshore wind industry are subject to severe, fluctuating wind loads. The result is high loads for the materials used in a rotor blade and challenge when it comes to the turbine’s control system. In storms, wind load can be so great that turbine operators are forced to power systems down in order to avoid damage. The ideal solution would be rotor blades that are able to ‘adapt’ their geometry to suit the local wind conditions. The output from the Smart Blades project suggests that this could one day be possible using active and passive technology that allows individual rotor blades to adjust to the prevailing wind conditions – so-called ‘smart blades’.

When a rotor blade subject to high wind conditions turns in such a way that it offers the wind a smaller contact surface, bending-torsion coupling (BTC) occurs. As this bending is initiated

by the force of the wind alone, it is described as a passive mechanism. The investigation focused on two ways to address this effect. The first was a crescent-shaped geometry and the second a new type of structure that was employed in the material used to build the blade. In this latter approach, the glass fibre from which the rotor blade is produced was arranged in such a way that pitch of the blade could adapt.

Another approach pursued during the project is active mechanisms that adapt the trailing edge of a rotor blade. Researchers in the Smart Wind project examined flexible and rigid trailing edge flaps, a concept inspired by the aviation industry that is comparable to the flaps on an aircraft’s wings. The investigations revealed that both options effectively reduce the load on a rotor blade. The researchers also considered whether a flexible leading edge flap on a rotor blade can improve the efficiency of wind turbines subject to heavily fluctuating, turbulent wind conditions. This mechanism enables optimal use of a rotor blade in a large wind speed range. “The advantage of this concept is the reaction speed and flexibility of the leading edge flap, which means that the forces on the blade can be influenced even in turbulent conditions. The concept of a flexible leading edge flap was tested in a wind tunnel during the Smart Blades project and delivered promising results. OWJ

New ideas can make rotor blades more stable and lighter

upgrades are required solely for the higher output requirement, the upgraded Siemens integrated control system (SICS) with enhanced power converter provides a greater level of flexibility in the turbine response to voltage and frequency, while enabling compliance with the strictest international grid code requirements.

“The development of the SWT-7.0-154 has reached the final stage, and we are well on track,” said Morten Rasmussen, head of technology at the Siemens wind power and renewables division. “We are proud to see our customers welcoming the upgrade, and ultimately, it is our customers who will benefit from these improvements. Serial production will be ramped up in autumn 2017.”

Apart from the most recently announced order for East Anglia ONE, other orders are already in place for the turbine, such as for the Walney Extension East project in the UK, where the turbines are to be installed in early 2018.

Danish energy and climate minister Lars Christian Lilleholt has inaugurated the 16-megawatt (MW) Måde wind power project in Denmark, which uses the first examples of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind’s V164-8.0 MW turbines to enter into commercial operation.

MHI Vestas Offshore Wind constructed and installed two V164-8.0 MW wind

Jens Tommerup: “Måde is a crucial step in the development of the V164”

turbines for the Måde wind power project on behalf of European Energy A/S, acting in a joint venture with a local partner. The installation marks a milestone for MHI Vestas Offshore Wind as the turbines are only the second and third examples of the V164-8.0 MW to be commissioned. The turbines have been installed on the west coast of Denmark, just south of the city of Esbjerg. They have a rotor diameter of 164m and a height of 200m from the foundation to the blade tip. The Måde project forms part of a trials programme that will enable MHI Vestas Offshore Wind to test and enhance the turbines in an offshore-like environment.

Jens Tommerup, CEO of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, said, “Today marks a significant milestone for MHI Vestas with the official opening of the Måde project. We are committed to developing affordable offshore wind energy, and the Måde site is a crucial step in the development of the V164, giving us the opportunity to test and verify the installation and commissioning of the turbine prior to offshore work.”

Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of European Energy, said, “Our mission is to drive down the price of electricity from wind turbines and solar cells even further. The inauguration of the world’s most powerful wind turbines is a giant leap in that direction.”


Norway’s wind industry association is keen to demonstrate members’ expertise in floating offshore wind energy, despite government inaction

Norway’s expertise in offshore oil and gas is pretty much

unrivalled, and Norwegian companies are increasingly involved in the offshore wind sector. Only this month, Statoil confirmed that it is to enter the German offshore wind energy market through a 50 per cent acquisition of the Arkona offshore windfarm. At the same time that the announcement was made, Statoil and E.ON also announced that they had made the final investment decision on the 385 megawatt (MW) project. Eldar Sætre, Statoil’s president and CEO, said the investment was in line with

Statoil’s strategy of gradually complementing its oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy and other low carbon solutions.

“Statoil is an established player in offshore wind, leveraging our more than 40 years of experience from offshore oil and gas projects to create value,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for new energy solutions. “We already have a solid portfolio of wind projects in the UK, and our entry into the German wind market further strengthens our position in this attractive and growing industry.”

We shouldn’t forget, either, that this is the same company

that, although only ‘gradually building’ its presence in the offshore wind industry, has already leaped to the front of the floating offshore wind segment with its decision to build the world’s first floating offshore windfarm, Hywind Scotland, not to mention its Batwind project to develop a new type of battery storage solution for offshore wind energy.

Despite Norway’s unrivalled expertise in offshore structures and things that float, however, there are no offshore windfarms in Norway or any planned in the short term at least. It is also disappointing that the Norwegian Government has not acted on a request from Parliament in the country for

the development of a strategy for offshore renewables. This seems especially short-sighted given that the country’s offshore oil and gas industry is in a deep crisis thanks to the steep fall in the oil price.

In response, Norway’s wind energy trade group NORWEA has invited the relevant actors with interests in offshore wind to co-operate on a study for the realisation of a full-scale demonstration for offshore wind technology in Norway. In doing so, Norway would be following the example of France and other European countries – where demonstration projects are planned – who understand that floating offshore wind will almost

NORWEGIAN INDUSTRY HAS EXPERTISE TO OFFER FLOATING WIND

18 | FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND


FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND | 19

certainly play an important role in the next ‘wave’ of offshore wind energy development.

NORWEA has dubbed its plan for offshore demonstrations of floating offshore wind ‘Offshore 2025’, which is its response to a recent white paper that failed to follow up on the Norwegian Parliament’s keen interest in offshore wind. “It now falls to the industry itself to find a way forward,” said NORWEA. “We already know that Norwegian expertise in maritime operations and maritime environments places the Norwegian industry in an advantageous position to take market shares in the fast-growing market for offshore wind.”

NORWEA says it has been given multiple examples of projects that underscore the perception that, in order to penetrate a market like offshore wind, you need to have already validated your technology. Representatives of companies who have technology that is ready for full-scale testing, offshore wind industry players and people with experience in developing offshore wind projects were all present at a 21 April meeting in Oslo where the issue was discussed.

NORWEA says it is inviting industry actors to take part in its initiative and

“compose a picture of the technology and expertise that exists in Norway” in order to find the way forward for a demonstration project.

“There was unanimous understanding among the participants at the meeting that the first stage of the project should culminate in a presentation of a document to Parliament, which will provide a basis for the discussion on offshore wind in the parliamentary debate on the white paper on energy policy,” NORWEA said. “The purpose of the project is, broadly speaking, to plot the potential economic impact of one or more full-scale demonstration projects for offshore wind, get relevant industry players, research bodies and organisations together to develop dialogue on a common strategy and highlight the positive effects for Norwegian stakeholders from partaking in the global offshore wind market. NORWEA would also like to see this work result in a platform for the development of new technology as well as for proving technology that may already be competitive. This will be one of the items for discussion at the next meeting NORWEA plans to hold in Oslo in May 2016.

Norwegian companies have unrivalled expertise in the design and construction of offshore structures of all types

Floating offshore wind proposal submitted to ADEMEENGIE, EDP Renewables, Caisse des Dépôts and Eiffage have formed a consortium to respond to the French government’s plan for pilot demonstrations of floating offshore windfarms and have submitted a proposal to ADEME, the French environment and energy management agency.

ENGIE, EDP Renewables, Caisse des Dépôts and Eiffage are bidding to provide a pilot floating offshore wind facility at the Leucate site in the Mediterranean. Their project ‘Les éoliennes flottantes du golfe du Lion,’ will consist of 3-6 floating offshore wind turbines of a minimum of 6MW each. They will be mounted on “an integrated semi-submersible type floating foundation” proposed by Eiffage Métal, based on Principle Power’s WindFloat floating foundation, which has been tested off the coast of Portugal. Eiffage Métal will manufacture and install the floating structure. The proposal leverages Principle Power’s technology, track record, and its strong local presence, through Principle Power France in Aix-en-Provence. Principle Power France (and other Principle Power subsidiaries) has operated the WindFloat 1 prototype since October, 2011.

“We applaud the formation of such a strong consortium and are pleased to have such a group of industry leaders recognising the WindFloat by Principle Power as the preferred technology solution,” said Principle Power president and chief executive Joao Metelo. “Strong domestic partnerships and proven track records are the key to ensuring successful implementation of these projects in France, and in the future, other global markets. We look forward to continuing working with our partners in the delivery of this and future commercial projects.” OWJ

In brief■ As part of the INNWIND.EU project, Cener in Spain has tested a floating platform developed for the INNWIND.EU 10MW reference wind turbine in a water depth of 200m. The platform was designed in steel and consists of an equilateral triangle with three stabilising columns, joined by pontoons. The function of the pontoons is not only structural but also hydrodynamic, damping the motion of the system. The wind turbine is located in one of the columns. Cener says the design minimises the hull cross-sectional area and the effect of wave energy. “The performance of the design is promising, and we plan to further develop it within

the INNWIND.EU project and validate the concept with wave tank tests,” Cener said.

■ Technalia and Nautilus floating solutions have completed scale model tests of a semi-submersible platform for floating offshore under the auspices of the Nautilus project. They tested a 1:35 scale model in the IHC wave tank in Santander, Spain, using a four-column semi-submersible with heave plates and a ring pontoon at the bottom. The platform was tested with a 5 megawatt (MW) baseline wind turbine. Technalia said the results were satisfactory, with expected accelerations and motions below most wind turbine manufacturer requirements.

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OFFSHORE ACCESS/WALK-TO-WORK | 21

Fast growth prompts publication of offshore access guidelinesThe fast-growing level of offshore wind operations and maintenance (O&M) activity is driving innovation in windfarm support vessels and offshore access systems

A s highlighted on a number of occasions in OWJ, fast growth in the market for offshore accommodation and service units has seen the introduction into service of a

new class of vessel, the service operation vessel or SOV, which is aimed primarily at windfarms that are too far offshore to be serviced by crew transfer vessels.

An SOV is effectively a multirole vessel fitted with a large accommodation area for wind turbine service personnel and underdeck space for storage of parts, materials and tools, as well as workshops. The open aft deck is used for storage of containers and the means of access to the turbines, which can be either a telescopic gangway or small daughter craft. Although there is consensus in the industry that SOVs should be designed in accordance with the IMO 2008 SPS Code, differences in interpretation between flag states and coastal states regarding the status of the technicians servicing the wind turbines have resulted in different regulatory regimes. The issue has been recognised at IMO, and work is ongoing to develop a definition for ‘industrial personnel’ and associated – potentially mandatory – standards.

However, as classification society Bureau Veritas has pointed out, although safe transfer of technicians from SOVs and other units to a turbine is essential, it is barely addressed by current regulation. Bureau Veritas says the range and diversity of motion compensated gangways on walk-to-work vessels has necessitated the development of design and operational safety standards to complement existing regulations for offshore vessels. This being the case, it has developed a new guidance note, NI269 Certification of Offshore Access Systems, which addresses the functional requirements, control and monitoring systems, mechanical systems, risk analysis and operator control of offshore access systems (OAS). Guidance note NI629 provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the safety principles and technical requirements for the design, manufacturing and operation of reliable and dependable equipment for the safe transfer of personnel at sea.

Matthieu de Tugny, senior vice-president and head of offshore at Bureau Veritas, said, “Getting people safely onto and off unmanned platforms and windfarm towers offshore has become a big issue. OAS can provide significant safety,

New vessel types are emerging with motion compensated gangways for which industry standards are essential


22 | OFFSHORE ACCESS/WALK-TO-WORK

operability and/or cost advantages over more traditional personnel transfer methods such as personnel basket or capsule lifts, step-over from crew transfer vessels and helicopter transfers. We see a lot of new vessel types emerging with these motion compensated gangways, and it is imperative that the industry has a standard against which to assess their safety and to help develop safe new designs.”

Two different offshore access technologies have emerged: passive transfer gangways, which are first connected to the offshore installation and then put in free-flow mode for personnel transfer; and active transfer gangways, which remain motion compensated during personnel transfer. The safety issues and critical components, which differ from one category to the other, require special attention to ensure safe and reliable operation. With these guidelines, the regulatory gap into which personnel transfer between offshore support vessels and offshore installations could fall has been closed.

Readers will remember that another classification society, DNV GL, also recently published guidance on offshore personnel transfer by gangways. DNV GL said it hoped the document DNVGL-ST-0358 Walk to Work (W2W) Guidance – Gangway Access to Offshore Facilities will help ensure safe operation of offshore access systems and enhance transparency in this segment of the industry. As it noted, until recently, an ISO 7061 standard from 1993 had partly served as a reference document for the use of offshore access systems, despite only addressing ship-to-shore transfers. Apart from ISO 7061, offshore gangways were also certified using man-riding crane standards.

The latest companies to enter the market for SOVs are Offshore Marine Management (OMM) and vessel owner Rederij Groen, who are developing a purpose-built SOV, having engaged Saltwater Engineering in The Netherlands for the design of the vessel. OMM said the SOV was designed based on two main principles: experience during the offshore installation, maintenance and repair phases of offshore energy projects; and the requirement to stay offshore longer due to increasing distances from base ports to windfarms. “The vessel is designed as a comfortable platform for optimal operation of its motion compensated gangway system for personnel transfer and for the active heave compensated deck crane operations with

the support of two daughter craft,” said OMM. The vessel will have workshops at boat deck level to enable servicing of a diving spread and remotely operated vehicle. It will also be able to carry containers for spares and supplies. The accommodation will be arranged for 60 people and be fitted with a hospital, fitness room, changing rooms, a large messroom, cinema and several recreation areas for windfarm technicians and crew. The companies are working towards delivery of the vessel in the fourth quarter of 2017. Another new SOV, one that is now in service, is C-bed Floating Hotels’ Wind Innovation, which completed offshore testing earlier this year and was delivered ready to play a role in the commissioning phase of the Gemini offshore windfarm offshore The Netherlands.

Vroon Offshore recently took delivery of a new subsea support vessel (SSV), VOS Sugar, which has started work in the offshore wind sector rather than the offshore oil and gas industry. VOS Sugar was formally named in a ceremony on 21 April in IJmuiden in The Netherlands and is a DP2, SPS-classed, 68m subsea support vessel and one of two newbuilding SSVs to have been constructed at Fujian Southeast Shipbuilding in China. VOS Sugar arrived in Amsterdam earlier this month. Following installation of an active heave compensated crane, the ship is now ready to start its first charter. The vessel’s first project is for NDE, for whom it will undertake diving operations and maintenance work on turbine foundations on an offshore windfarm in German waters. To provide safe and easy access to the wind turbines, the vessel has also been fitted with a motion compensated offshore access system. The ship has a high level of accommodation and low noise and vibration levels.

Chevalier Floatels says the walk-to-work vessels DP Gezina and DP Galyna were upgraded recently in order to further enhance their performance. The company has increased accommodation capacity on the vessels to 70. They will now be in compliance with the Special Purpose Ships Code, and the company has doubled deck capacity by adding another deck, additional work space has been created and a large covered area is now available for storing containers. Both of the offshore units are being outfitted with a second retractable azimuth bow thruster for a stronger dynamic positioning plot and improved performance of the Ampelmann offshore access system with which they are fitted.

Osbit in the UK and Dutch company Seatools are to collaborate to develop offshore systems including active motion-compensated offshore access or ‘walk-to-work’ gangways. Combining Osbit’s established expertise in the supply of offshore equipment such as telescopic gangways with Seatools’ specialist control system capabilities, the companies are planning to work together on innovative systems for the oil and gas and offshore renewables sectors. The collaboration has already delivered its first product innovation. Building on Osbit’s established passive telescopic gangways, MaXccess P-Series, the companies have combined their capabilities to develop the MaXccess AM-Series of active motion-compensated gangway systems. The MaXccess AM-Series unites the company’s established expertise in the provision of passive telescopic gangway systems with realtime, active control systems provided by Seatools, allowing AM-Series gangways to actively compensate for vessel motions and transfer personnel quickly and safely to a wide range of offshore structures. OWJ

Offshore shipowner Ostensjø Rederi is to provide a second service operation vessel (SOV) for Dong Energy, a contract that will require a newbuild vessel for operations at the Hornsea Project One offshore windfarm in the UK. The contract is for a period of five years firm and five optional years. The 81.1m vessel will have a beam of 17.0m and be a sister vessel of the SOV awarded by Dong Energy in October of 2015. It will function as a mothership for wind turbine technicians as they undertake maintenance work on the Hornsea Project One windfarm. The second vessel will be delivered in the third quarter of 2018, will have accommodation for 40 wind turbine technicians and a motion compensated gangway system with an adjustable pedestal.

Osbit and Seatools team upDong Energy declares option for Østensjø SOV

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24 | CORROSION CONTROL

LEADING EDGE EROSION SOLUTIONS BROUGHT TO MARKET

A company in the UK and a Norwegian research institute claim to have developed solutions to leading edge erosion of the blades on offshore wind turbines and new solutions are being developed to tackle corrosion of turbine structures

As highlighted previously in OWJ, blade leading edge erosion is a serious issue in the wind industry, but its effects are worse on offshore turbines than onshore

units. Leading edge erosion affects turbine efficiency, reducing the generating capacity of a windfarm, and is one of the biggest challenges facing the wind industry. It presents significant operational, maintenance and cost challenges, and its effects are accelerated offshore. It affects the aerodynamic performance of a blade – its flow, lift and power – which leads to reduced turbine efficiency, reliability and availability as well as increased operations and maintenance activity, with repairs in situ being difficult and expensive. It also affects a blade’s structural integrity as water ingress and UV light exposure can lead to structural damage. All of this proves costly for offshore windfarm owner/operators through lost power generation and revenue.

In response to this challenge, TRAC advantEDGE in Perth in Scotland has developed a repair solution for turbine blades but believes that its solution could reduce leading edge erosion if introduced at the blade manufacturing stage.

The concept for the company’s approach to blade maintenance and repair was developed when Brian Forbes, general manager of TRAC advantEDGE, was tasked with creating a renewables service division for the company. His extensive research highlighted the seriousness of the issue of leading edge erosion. The company had experience with composites and blade design – and an understanding of the limitations of working at height to repair blades – but was confident that it could develop a fast, quick way to tackle the problem.

“The concept of advantEDGE was born following consultations with many of the most experienced and knowledgeable industry professionals regarding the benefits of prefabrication and automation,” said the company. “Through several partnerships with a range of sector specialists and many months of research, development and testing, the advantEDGE solution was developed.” The company describes it as a “highly durable, modular repair solution”, which is now available under licence to owners, operators, independent service providers and original equipment manufacturers.

The company says advantEDGE “rejuvenates” leading edge aerodynamics to recover lost yield for up to 20 years offshore, whilst minimising downtime. It makes use of two principal innovations. The first is a series of advantEDGE leading edge ‘erosion shield modules’, which are manufactured for blades. These erosion shields

Leading edge erosion is a significant issue in the offshore wind industry, but solutions are being developed


CORROSION CONTROL | 25

are available as fully recessed, partially recessed or leading edge covers. Each series of erosion shields is installed either using a high precision, highly automated robotic arm machining system or a manual machining system.

If using the automated system, an access platform is used by field technicians to secure a robotic arm to the blade with a specialist mounting attachment, which can be adapted to varying surface geometries/blades. Automated high precision machining of the eroded leading edge material takes approximately 30 minutes to create a very shallow recess. The manual machining system is deployed by rope access to also create a series of very shallow recesses on the leading edge. This recess will mirror a bespoke prefabricated erosion shield for the sector, typically 1mm, which is then bonded into place. No coating is required because the modules themselves are highly durable. The process is repeated for each damaged sector to ensure blades are completely protected against leading edge erosion.

The Perth firm says that one of the key benefits of the advantEDGE system is a substantial reduction in operations and maintenance (O&M) costs. “advantEDGE lowers blade-related O&M by up to 70 per cent and minimises downtime while increasing yield,” it claims. “It also extends the useful life of the blades to optimise ROI and prevents damage to the structural integrity of the blade, which could result from increasing numbers of composite patch repairs.”

Researchers at SINTEF and the NTNU in Norway have been working on a protective coating that can ameliorate the effects of leading edge erosion. Working with the Norwegian Research Centre for Offshore Wind (NOWITECH), they have focused on droplet erosion, which is one of the main mechanisms involved in leading edge erosion. The Norwegian approach has been to use polyurethane coatings modified with nanoparticles. They used a test rig with a representative blade and a range of droplet sizes and impact speeds. After the tests, the weight loss of samples was measured, and the surface of the sample was investigated with a specialised microscope.

The Norwegian scientists concluded that modified polyurethane coatings show promising mechanical and erosion resistance properties if used as protective coatings. Commercial coatings tested alongside the modified polyurethane coatings failed at a speed of 100m/s impact speed, whilst the ‘doped’ PU coatings could withstand an impact speed of up to 140m/s.

At the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, scientists are developing a protective film that will optimise the repair of turbines that have been affected by corrosion. New solutions are being developed by researchers as part of the collaborative RepaKorr project. The aim is to make repair work offshore much easier and less expensive. The partners in the project intend to standardise the inspection process, computerise the results of individual interventions and feed this data into existing electronic, online monitoring systems. This will help to shorten inspection and repair cycles by enabling more precise, targeted planning.

“Our aim is to develop a holistic, sustainable concept for the maintenance and repair of protective systems that will be simpler to apply and thereby reduce costs,” explained Peter Plagemann of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM) in Bremen. The year-round inspection and repair solution that the Institute is working on is due to be ready to implement later this year. It focuses on the parts of a wind turbine that are not permanently submerged under water and therefore need

a particularly hard-wearing coating to prevent the formation of rust. The main contributors to the project are Sika Deutschland

GmbH, which is developing new repair materials, and Muehlhan AG, which is developing novel application and analysis methods. The work is being complemented by the development of new testing concepts. Existing guidelines and techniques used in the industry don’t take repair sufficiently into consideration, Fraunhofer IFAM believes.

“There is a need for standard procedures that can be used to verify the quality of repairs,” said Mr Plagemann. “Because such guidelines do not exist at present, IFAM researchers have devised tests based on their own criteria.”

Another of the partners in the project, AirRobot GmbH, is investigating the idea of using drones to inspect coatings and determine what repairs are needed. Here, too, clear inspection criteria must be defined so that the process can be automated as far as possible – until now, this kind of work needed to carried out by wearing climbing harnesses, which is time consuming and expensive.

Researchers at IFAM are also developing a protective film to prevent moisture and salt coming into contact with surfaces that have been cleaned and prepared for recoating until such time as the actual repair coating is applied. “The challenge is that the film must adhere firmly and yet be easy to remove without leaving any residue. We’re trying to find a solution that combines these seemingly contradictory requirements,” Mr Plagemann said. Fraunhofer researchers are pursuing two ideas, one of which has already been tested successfully in the laboratory. The other is in the process of being patented. “The positive effect of protective film is that it allows the repair process to be carried out more cost-effectively, because the critical period between preparing the surface and applying the coating can be addressed,” he concluded. OWJ

Addressing corrosion once a turbine has been installed and is in operation is time consuming and expensive


STATOIL EMBARKS ON INNOVATIVE WIND ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT

In March, Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil announced plans to embark

on a ground-breaking pilot project to develop and install an innovative new battery storage solution for offshore wind energy. In a double first, the novel system, known as Batwind, will also be located in the first ever floating offshore windfarm, the Hywind pilot park off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

So what exactly will the pilot project entail, and what are the key advantages of the technology? What kind of energy storage technology will be used, and what are the prospects for the long-term application of the technology – and other energy storage technologies like it – in the offshore wind sector?

For many years, offshore wind energy developers have sought

ways to address the natural and unavoidable intermittency of wind resources. A key part of this ongoing quest has been an exploration of the role of battery storage systems, now widely considered to be one of the best potential ways to mitigate intermittency and optimise output, in improving efficiency and lowering costs for offshore wind.

In an effort to further test this potential and consider in more detail how battery storage systems can be applied in real-

world situations, Statoil has announced plans to embark on a pilot project to install its Batwind technology at the Hywind site, a novel offshore windfarm that, when completed in late 2017, will consist of five floating wind turbines located some 25km off the coast of Peterhead in North East Scotland. As part of the scheme, a large 1 megawatt hour (MWh) lithium battery storage system will be installed on the Scottish mainland and connected via a

subsea cable to the 6 megawatt turbines in the Hywind project.

According to Stephen Bull, senior vice president for offshore wind and carbon capture and storage at Statoil, the main aim of the scheme is to help ‘smooth’ the yearly transfer of some 135 gigawatt hours (GWh) of power from the array onto the grid, starting in 2018. “Battery storage has the potential to optimise output. This can improve efficiency and lower costs for offshore wind,” he explained.

“The Hywind pilot park was identified as the best place to start this process. The project will provide a technological and commercial foundation for the implementation of Batwind in full-scale offshore windfarms, opening new commercial opportunities in a growing market,” he told OWJ.

Over the next few years,

Statoil plans to use the Hywind pilot project to test the Batwind battery storage concept

26 | ENERGY STORAGE

In theory, energy from offshore windfarms could be stored offshore or on land – Statoil in Norway has decided on the latter for its Batwind projectby Andrew Williams


ENERGY STORAGE | 27

Statoil hopes that the new system will enable the company to benefit from a number of key operational and financial benefits. To begin with, the company claims that the Batwind system will allow it to capture wind ‘overshoots’ and increase its ability to store excess electricity for sale when capacity is free.

It also believes that the system will help to reduce balancing costs, in the process raising the prospect that it will be able to introduce the regulation of its own power supply. There are also hopes that Batwind will assist the company to increase power market value and improve ongoing opportunities to capture price peaks through arbitrage.

“The battery technology will consist of known solutions when it comes to hardware. The real value in this project lies in the knowledge base – pulling together the algorithms for the array’s control system, running the numbers and doing the big data,” Mr Bull said.

Batwind will be developed by a broader consortium of organisations, which will see Statoil engage in co-operation with a number of Scottish universities and suppliers, under a recent memorandum of understanding (MOU). The memorandum was signed in Edinburgh on 18 March by

representatives from Statoil as well as the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.

“We have signed an MOU with Statoil to support the project and will manage, along with Scottish Enterprise, a structured programme, which is currently being established to support and fund innovation in the battery storage area between Statoil and Scottish industry and academia,” said Lee Madigan, a spokesperson for the ORE Catapult. Over the next few years, said Mr Bull, Statoil also expects to use the results of the Batwind project as a launch pad for use in future large-scale offshore wind energy developments.

“Statoil has a strong position in offshore wind. By developing innovative battery storage solutions, we can improve the value of wind energy for both Statoil and customers,” he said. “We will build on the Batwind project to capture the knowledge for future full-scale windfarm developments and optimise the energy system, from windfarm to the grid. Battery storage represents a new application in our offshore wind portfolio, contributing to realising our ambition of profitable growth in this area.”

Offshore energy storage solutions – what are the potential advantages?

The Batwind project is undoubtedly an important step on the path towards the effective management and mitigation of intermittency. At present, the installation of onshore energy storage appears to be the most practical solution, but moving forward, is there ever likely to be any merit in locating the energy storage capacity offshore?

According to Paul Gardner, segment leader – energy storage at DNV GL – Energy, which, in the past, has briefly flirted with the idea of using compressed air as an energy storage medium for offshore wind energy, offshore energy storage for offshore wind is greatly affected by the cost of providing energy storage capacity offshore.

In this light, he argues that there are only a few compelling reasons for providing energy storage offshore. The first of these would be if there is some storage medium that is cheaper or better to provide offshore than onshore. One example of such a medium would be a subsea cavity that could be used for compressed air storage or some other storage technology that is suitable for mounting on a ship or barge.

Mr Gardner also believes that a second argument in favour of offshore energy storage systems would apply if the offshore storage capacity helped to reduce overall costs, primarily by reducing the required capacity of the subsea cable to shore. “In principle, a store of ‘X’ megawatt power rating can reduce the size of the cable needed by ‘X’ megawatts,” he said.

Finally, Mr Gardner argues that a third reason for offshore energy storage systems would apply if the offshore storage capacity provides some other benefit, such as being able to provide power to keep wind turbines ‘warm’, with navigation lights and control systems powered up, during a cable failure. “These are difficult tests to pass. Otherwise, it would be cheaper and the risk would be less to locate the energy storage capacity onshore, as is being done for the Hywind Batwind project,” he concluded. OWJ

Batwind will see energy from offshore wind stored on land in batteries


As wind energy becomes increasingly important to European energy supply, more and more interconnections need to be built between offshore windfarms and onshore

grids. A meshed offshore transmission grid connecting offshore windfarms to land could provide significant financial, technical and environmental benefits to the European electricity market, it is claimed, and with this in mind, a four-year European research programme got underway earlier this year that will result in the development of an offshore grid development plan for 2020 and beyond, including the regulatory and financial framework – and the technology – that will be required.

The organisations behind the research project note that, in order to unlock the full potential of Europe’s offshore resources, network infrastructure is urgently required linking offshore windfarms and onshore grids in different countries. High voltage direct current (HVDC) technology is envisaged, but the deployment of meshed HVDC offshore grids is hindered by the high cost of converter

technology, the lack of experience with protection systems and fault clearance components and as yet immature international regulations and financial instruments. The project will, it is hoped, overcome these barriers by development and demonstration of new technology, a regulatory and financial framework and an offshore grid deployment plan for 2020 and beyond.

Some commercial HVDC projects have already implemented point-to-point connections and point-to-point and multi-terminal deep offshore grids, but meshed offshore grids linking several offshore windfarms with onshore grids in different countries and with other available generation resources are urgently required to provide additional flexibility, efficiency, security and market access to offshore wind resources. However, the development of just this kind of highly flexible, fault-tolerant grid has been delayed by a number of barriers, not least the lack of agreement among operators and manufacturers on architectures, control structures and interfaces to ensure

EU project aims to help power- up meshed HVDC gridsFunded by the EU Horizon 2020 research programme and co-ordinated by DNV GL, the PROMOTioN project sees 34 partners from 11 countries coming together to develop technology that will facilitate a new type of HVDC offshore transmission network


GRID CONNECTION | 29

interoperability and multi-vendor compatibility of equipment, a lack of market rules and revenue streams allowing the build-up of a suitable financial package (combining innovation actions with European debt instruments and financing coming from other sources, national, regional or local), permitting and environmental compatibility, and operation and management of these grids from legal, technical and market points of view. If successful, it is hoped that the project will accelerate the deployment of meshed HVDC offshore grids, with particular emphasis on Northern Seas partner countries, before 2020; ensure that the technology will be ready for deployment in other regions in Europe for all transnational corridors defined in the trans-European energy infrastructure regulation or be compatible (plug-and-play) with other upcoming technologies (such as ocean energy, solar energy and geothermal energy as soon as these technologies are ready for similar capacities); ensure plug-and-play compatibility of all relevant equipment of the key suppliers; and prepare for other priority infrastructure projects identified under the trans-European energy infrastructure regulation.

The seven-year research project – PROgress on Meshed HVDC Offshore Transmission Networks or PROMOTioN – has secured €39 million in funding from the EU and aims to develop three key technologies: . a low cost offshore diode rectifier. a multi-supplier HVDC grid protection system. new types of HVDC circuit breakers.

Alongside the technical work, a regulatory and financial framework will be developed for the co-ordinated planning, construction and operation of integrated offshore infrastructures, including an offshore grid deployment plan or ‘roadmap’ for the future offshore grid system in Europe.

The Dutch transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT will carry out the PROMOTioN research programme in collaboration with 35 leading players in the field of HVDC transmission grids, ranging from TSOs and universities to multinational corporations. A series of stakeholder workshops and events will be organised during the project phase to discuss the various technological and regulatory approaches. Currently, PROMOTioN is the largest energy project in the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme.

Currently, the high cost of converter technology and a lack of experience with protection systems and fault clearance components hamper the deployment of meshed HVDC offshore grids. In addition, the deployment is hindered by limitations inherent to existing European regulations for the purpose of developing cross-border offshore infrastructures, national legal and regulatory barriers and financing issues.

Low cost diode rectifiers for offshore converters are seen as one of the keys to the future development and implementation of meshed DC grids. The concept is ground breaking in as much as it challenges the need for complex, bulky and expensive converters, reducing significantly investment and maintenance cost and increasing availability.

As highlighted above, the second key technology is an HVDC grid protection system that will be developed and demonstrated utilising multi-vendor methods in a full-scale multi-terminal test environment. This multi-vendor approach will, it is anticipated, allow DC grid protection to become a ‘plug-and-play’-type solution. The third technology pathway will, for the first time, demonstrate the performance of existing HVDC circuit breaker prototypes to provide confidence and demonstrate technology readiness.

Marie Donelly, director of renewables, research and innovation, energy efficiency at DG ENER, said, “There is great potential in the Northern Seas to deliver significant quantities of clean energy, helping us both to decarbonise our economy and to increase the security of our energy supply. Northern Seas offers unique opportunities for co-operation and to deliver cost reduction to the offshore energy systems. We think that an offshore grid in the North Sea could become a flagship project for regional co-operation as foreseen by the Energy Union.”

Elisabeth Harstad, CEO DNV GL – Energy, said that combining new HVDC technology with existing systems could be instrumental in bringing large-scale renewables into the grid and ensure that a future-proof grid is affordable, reliable and sustainable.”

DOE explores potential of wind power to stabilise gridA 1.5 megawatt wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) in the US is being used to demonstrate that windfarms can provide frequency-responsive back-up or ancillary services currently supplied to the electrical grid by conventional power plants. The project is not offshore wind specific but, with the growing interest in offshore wind on the east coast of the US and elsewhere, could have applications in that segment of the wind industry in due course.

In 2015, researchers at the NWTC close to the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, connected the turbine to the controllable grid interface (CGI) test facility, which simulates the real-time conditions of a utility-scale power grid. This began an ongoing DOE-funded research effort to test how wind turbines can remain connected to the grid during short periods of grid failure.

“When a large electricity-generating plant (whether gas burning, coal burning, nuclear or hydro power) shuts down, the frequency of the electric power grid drops due to an imbalance

between generation and load,” the DOE explained.” As a result, utility operators must increase the power output of generators at other conventional power plants to stabilise the frequency.

DOE researchers are evaluating the potential of windfarms to provide frequency-responsive back-up or ancillary services currently supplied to the grid by conventional power plants.

The DOE claims that the NWTC is the only facility in the world where this research is conducted at a multi-megawatt scale under controlled grid conditions. The CGI provides a unique environment where wind turbine vendors can test their equipment under any possible grid fault condition. Researchers at the NWTC can experiment with various grid conditions and test how utility-scale wind turbines can provide ancillary services for enhanced grid reliability.

For the energy industry, this ability helps save time and resources while minimising integration issues, improving reliability and advancing development of grid-friendly renewable and emerging energy technologies. OWJ

Move Forward with Confidence

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TECHNOLOGY | 31

Energy harvester could slash cost of wind energyP rospects for a device known as

the EHD Wind Energy Harvester look promising following the recent

award of US$4.5 million in funding from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). So what is the background behind the technology, and how does it work? And, as the company embarks on the high profile project, what are the prospects for the future commercial development of such novel technology?

As Dawn White, founder, president and chief technology officer (CTO) at Accio Energy explained, the EHD Wind Harvester works by using the principles of electro-hydrodynamics (EHD) to generate energy. To begin with, a mist of positively charged seawater droplets are driven away from one or more modular and permeable source panels by the wind, in the process leaving behind their opposite negatively

charged pairs. This action in turn results in the emergence of a large negative potential on the source panel – as well as a sizeable electrical field, in the range of a 200,000 volt electric potential – which the wind must work against to continue moving charge. At

the final stage, the system then produces power by harvesting the electrons that have accumulated on the panels and using an EHD generator to produce high voltage direct current (HVDC) power that can be supplied to the electrical grid. The panels themselves can be easily combined into larger arrays, leading the company to point out that the system can be easily scaled from kilowatt to gigawatt systems, making it modular, transportable and cost effective.

Since its foundation in 2008, said Ms White, Accio Energy has been devoting all of its efforts to developing EHD wind energy as a utility scale alternative to offshore turbines. In doing so, she revealed, the company has been working to identify and overcome the barriers to successfully demonstrating this technology experienced by previous researchers. “In the last two years, we have been able to show that EHD wind energy has the

Established US start-up company Accio Energy is in the process of developing innovative ‘turbine free’ technology that it claims will one day halve the cost of offshore wind energy

by Andrew Williams

EHD wind is based on the use of panels, which should help reduce complexity and maintenance costs

Sourceof

KineticEnergy

Wind

Field shapers

Electrically connected sources rise to high negative potential

Droplet sources

Highelectric field

Positively charged droplets

Ground screencontrols e-fieldmagnitude

Water returns to ocean (electrical ground)

Native HVDC convertedonto HVDC or HVAC load Grid


32 | TECHNOLOGY

potential to have a disruptively lower levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) in the offshore wind market,” she claimed.

During an initial period from 2008 to 2015, the company relied on the support of private investors to fund the process of de-risking the basic EHD technology. The funding from the ARPA-E 2015 OPEN programme – which is designed to support innovative energy R&D that falls outside of the topics of ARPA-E’s focused technology programmes and support the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications – will help it continue to do so.

As part of the project, Ms White, who is also the principal investigator for the project, revealed that Accio will carry out the first offshore, floating demonstration of an EHD wind generator at kW output levels. As part of the project, the company team will also collaborate with the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center to design, build and test progressive prototypes and develop offshore validation of performance, scalability and operability in real-world conditions. One of the key objectives is to scale up the existing test hardware in a way that is compatible with the University of Maine’s Volturnus floating platform, on which Ms White says the company will also eventually conduct the test, and obtain the first offshore, natural wind data with an EHD system.

Although there is undeniably a lot of work to be done before the Wind Harvester can achieve its full commercial potential,

she is confident that a wide range of perceived technological, operational and financial advantages of the Wind Harvester – especially when compared with existing offshore wind turbine designs – will serve to strengthen its ability to compete in the global wind turbine sector. To begin with, in purely technical terms, she argues that EHD wind has the potential to provide a higher capacity factor than offshore wind turbines by virtue of the fact that it is relatively more efficient in the most frequent wind speeds.

“The physics and mechanics are the reason for the difference,” she told OWJ. “Wind turbines have massive wind blades that couple with the wind. Their inertia results in a slow response to changing conditions. EHD wind systems couple fine water droplets with the wind. The quantity, size and charge on the droplets are able to quickly be optimised based upon changing conditions. The result is higher capacity factors and a lower overall LCOE.”

From an operational perspective, she reiterated the fact that EHD wind is based on a panellised design that, she predicts, should eventually reduce installation complexity and maintenance costs. In addition, since the panel yaws into the wind but does not have rotating components, she believes that – in theory – it should be easier for developers using the Wind Harvester to obtain permission to install it, largely because it will be less visually intrusive.

“Financially speaking, EHD wind generators will be composed of multiple identical panels that can be assembled in any desired size and produced in very

high volumes with materials and processes typical of the automotive industry. This will lower both non-recurring engineering and manufacturing costs,” she said.

In spite of the fact that the potential advantages of the technology are many and varied, Ms White is keen to admit that a number of challenges lie ahead. Perhaps chief among these is the fact that the successful development and commercialisation of what is an entirely new utility scale generation technology is exceptionally rare.

“The biggest challenges include scaling up EHD systems from laboratory scale to subscale prototype demonstrations and developing the balance of systems to take off the HVDC current,” she said. “Other big challenges include identifying testing locations and partners, proving the reliability in the offshore environment and securing funding for the future development and financing for the first commercial installation.”

Looking ahead, she confirmed that Accio Energy has fixed plans for the future commercial development of the Wind Harvester, with the goal being to bring utility scale EHD wind generators to the offshore market. “EHD wind uses water to produce power but returns it to the ocean unaltered. Our goal is to make offshore wind energy much cheaper and deployable across a wider range of locations,” she concluded. “Accio Energy is currently exploring strategic business relationships around the world to take EHD wind from the offshore demonstration stage to product development followed by initial deployment.” OWJ

Panel-based Charge Formation Charge Separation Power Harvesting

1. Modular, wind-permeable panelsassembled intogenerator systems

2. Emit a modestamount of sea water as positively charged droplets

3. The wind separatesthe charges, buildingup a ~200,000 voltelectric potential

4. The system harveststhe accumulatedelectrons as a high-voltage direct current

END PANELS

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POWERCONVERSION

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FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND | 35

Concrete

W indcrete, a new Spar-type floating substructure that is designed to carry wind turbines

of up to 10 megawatts (MW) in deep offshore environments, could provide a high level of reliability and lower installation, maintenance and construction costs than alternatives, says a team of Spanish researchers.

As project co-lead Climent Molins, a professor of civil engineering at UPC-BarcelonaTech, explained, the structure uses reinforced concrete in a monolithic structure with what he describes as a “smooth and efficient geometry”. It can also be built in a drydock before being towed to the installation point in a horizontal position, helping to minimise water resistance. The installation procedure itself can be carried out by pumping water into it and partially flooding the structure – a process that effectively causes the structure to self-erect from a horizontal to a vertical position – while the top of the tower is lowered to a level a few metres above mean sea level.

This means that a wind turbine can be assembled on the tower without the need for large floating cranes, which are quite expensive to contract. After this, the water is replaced with ballast aggregates, increasing its hydrostatic stiffness and stability. “The concept uses a mooring system that handles the various marine and weather conditions it can be subjected to in a deep offshore environment,” said Professor Molins.

Work on developing the structure started in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UPC-BarcelonaTech in 2010 as part of a project designed to analyse the technology of innovative structures and materials. The team quickly realised the benefits that concrete structures have over steel ones and spotted a clear opportunity for their use in the offshore wind energy sector. Since then, they have filed several patents and funded three PhD theses to develop aspects and design tools to be applied to Windcrete or other similar concepts. Throughout the development of the project, the team has also received investment and support from KIC-InnoEnergy for the AFOSP proof of concept (alternative floating offshore substructure for offshore wind) as part of a consortium that also included Gas Natural Fenosa and the University of Stuttgart.

Alexis Campos, a PhD student at UPC-BarcelonaTech, said “significant” numerical and experimental work had already been carried out on the design and confirmed that the team has achieved the proof of concept through numerical simulations and tests of a scale model in laboratory conditions in the framework of the AFOSP project. “These tests showed the viability of the concept thanks to its reliable stability in the array of conditions in which it was tested,” he told OWJ.

The research has not only been technical, however. The KIC-InnoEnergy AFOSP project included a study on the expected levelised cost of energy, which, in favourable scenarios and taking advantage of the capability of using large wind turbines, has been identified to be competitive at 0.12 €/kWh, he explained.

“Windcrete’s aim is that its users can focus on managing wind turbines and can ‘forget’ about the infrastructure that supports it. In addition, its lower material costs and simpler installation procedure also reduce the initial capital investment required. This combination is quite significant because it not only reduces the operational costs but also the capital ones, which are typically the major challenge in renewables,” said Professor Molins.

“On the other hand, the construction methods required have long been used and are further simplified by its smooth and efficient structure. Furthermore, Windcrete could have more positive impacts on a regional economy than with steel, because concrete is typically more locally produced and requires less skilled labour.”

Mr Campos revealed that the team is now actively seeking funding and industrial partners to build a large-scale prototype to be tested under real conditions and anticipates this could be the final step towards commercialisation.

“Our market is areas with great wind resources and deep water, over 90m, for example, such as the Mediterranean and offshore Hawaii, New England, the Great Lakes, West Coast of the US and Japan. We are excited to see many of these areas have already started investing in deep offshore wind energy, acknowledging its potential. We are currently aiming to start testing in the marine environment in 2018 and start commercial use by 2020,” he concluded. OWJ

Spanish researchers develop novel concrete floating platformA team of researchers at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-BarcelonaTech) have created an innovative floating foundation design based on a floating concrete platform

by Andrew Williams

Windcrete should be easy to build and have a long service life, say Spanish researchers


36 | OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

Airborne inspectors could help control corrosionA consortium of German companies is conducting a research programme that uses unmanned aerial systems or drones that could be flown from vessels to detect corrosion in offshore windfarms

As first highlighted in the Fourth Quarter 2015 issue of OWJ (see pages 28–29), unmanned aerial systems or UAS –

commonly known as drones – are already widely used in other industries and are increasingly widely used in the offshore oil and gas sector to inspect platforms and other structures. It has long been recognised that drones also have potential in the offshore wind industry where, it is anticipated, they could provide significant cost and efficiency benefits. Work undertaken to date in the RepaKorr project suggests that these potential benefits extend to new, more cost-effective ways to detect corrosion.

The RepaKorr project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and co-ordinated by Muehlhan AG. It has brought together manufacturers of coating materials, specialists in the application of coating systems, windfarm operators, companies that specialise in building steel structures, industrial safety experts and a company that specialises in mini and micro unmanned aerial systems to combine their expertise in materials science, engineering, system design and organisation to prepare the ground for a new onsite repair concept for offshore windfarms. The partners in the project are Fraunhofer Institute for

Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials; Muehlhan AG; the industrial coatings division of Sika Deutschland; Corroconsult, Gesellschaft für Coating Control Consulting GmbH; AirRobot GmbH & Co KG; and Senvion GmbH.

Speaking exclusively to OWJ, project spokesperson Dr Andreas Momber, who works for Muehlhan, explained that the project got underway in April 2013. Asked what progress has been made so far and what are the most recent milestones in the project, Dr Momber explained that the partners in the project have tested a drone in a near-shore environment and recently improved the design of that drone in order to enable it to fly in a stable manner in high wind speeds and to deliver high quality images. The improved drone can also now be launch and recovered safely on vessels offshore.

Asked why drones are being considered and what their potential applications are, Dr Momber noted that human-based inspections are time consuming and expensive. “And the results are limited,” he said. “In contrast, drones can follow a prescribed (programmed) flight path around an offshore structure and can repeat it as often as is required. This is a great benefit for a time-constrained based condition monitoring project. Drones deliver digital data and could even do so in real time. They are a great tool for initial screening and for inspecting critical areas of a structure.”

Dr Momber said he could not divulge details of when and where drones had been tested but said that the project partners had done an onshore test flight at a windfarm and achieved “excellent results”. He said he believes that their potential in the offshore wind industry was “significant” in the longer term. “It’s the future,” he said. “Owners of offshore windfarms are already aware of the advantages but are waiting for reliable, inexpensive equipment to be developed.” He said he believed that – as is usually the case with any innovative application of new technology – windfarm operators were waiting for a track record of successful projects to be completed before they committed to using drones. “Training pilots for unmanned aerial systems and specialists who can interpret the data and images produced is also an issue for the time being, as are data transmission and exploitation. “What should a windfarm operator do with the

BELOW: The RepaKorr project combines the use of unmanned aerial systems with innovative, cost-effective repair techniques


data delivered by the drones and with associated data such as location, photography, videos, wind speed and temperature? These are some of the issues we are planning to address in subsequent R&D projects,” he said.

“We have also developed a repair coating system for offshore applications that reduces the demands on substrate quality. It can be applied in one run with a cartridge (including mixing and metering). The coating is currently undergoing the ISO 20340 test along with a benchmark coating. The results will be available in summer. We also applied it in an offshore test on the island of Helgoland. An initial inspection delivered excellent results.

“We have also investigated a number of surface preparation methods for use offshore, including rotating brushes, grinders, vacuum machines and water spray nozzles, all of which are handheld). We have also developed a two-step substrate preparation scenario for heavily corroded sections and examined all of the safety and environmental aspects of working offshore and have investigated ways to minimise the consumption of resources,” he concluded.

The potential of unmanned aerial systems has also recently been recognised by classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR), which has published guidance to support safe and effective deployment of next-generation drones and unmanned aerial systems in inspections as a way to improve productivity, reduce risk exposure and in-service inspection costs and to speed up survey times. It says ‘eyes in the sky’ technology enables rapid, safe and repeatable inspections for offshore, shipping and onshore infrastructure that will offer long-term benefits to the energy and marine sectors, delivering high levels of integrity, compliance and commercial advantage.

“We are developing these guidance notes to provide a consistent approach to risk in UAS and drone deployment, offering practical operational considerations relating to regulations, personnel,

ABOVE: A high resolution image of a wind turbine structure obtained from an unmanned aerial system

quality, safety, hardware, software and operations,” says LR chief technology officer Nial McCollam. “Technology and innovation in the area of digital data, sensing technologies, unmanned systems and robotics are here to stay. We see an exciting and important journey ahead and anticipate our efforts to increase and continue.” Shipping and energy companies are seeking to use drones to make in-service operational assessments and surveys safer and more effective, especially in hazardous environments and where equipment is difficult to access. Early adopters include Shell and Maersk Drilling.

The guidance notes from LR will be updated regularly to provide industry with the latest practical information on issues such as how best to use UAS for inspection in confined spaces, which is particularly relevant in energy and marine applications where class surveys are needed and also improves safety for human life. “In the past, small commercial UAS technology can be traced back to remote-controlled hobby aircraft requiring significant skills to operate. However, rapid advancements in hardware and software including air stabilisation, pre-flight planning tools, obstacle detection and avoidance technology have transformed these small aircraft into viable business tools that is likened to high definition eyes in the sky,” says Chris Chung, head of strategic research at LR.

In March 2016, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation convened an international panel of industry and academic experts for a two-day workshop on robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) to identify current state of the art and the white space where the foundation can add significant impact and contribution in line with its charitable objectives. The review will be published as part of the Foundation’s Foresight Review series of reports later this year. The Foundation is expecting to make a significant grant investment in remote systems to deliver the findings from the report. OWJ

“Technology and innovation in the area of digital data, sensing technologies, unmanned systems and robotics are here to stay”


TRIALS SEE CARBON TRUST CREATING 3D LIDAR WIND MAPS

Led by the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator

(OWA) in the UK, trials in Dublin Bay that are due to be completed shortly will be the most comprehensive test of scanning lidar technology ever undertaken and will see four different scanning lidar systems put through their paces alongside three vertical profiling lidars for validation purposes. The project is being supported by independent renewable energy company RES and maritime safety organisation Commissioners of Irish Lights.

Accurate wind resource measurements are critical to windfarm development because they are used to calculate the potential energy yield from a windfarm, which dictates the terms of the project financing.

This can be a significant proportion of the overall project cost, accounting for around 45 per cent for an average windfarm.

Scanning lidar is not a new technology. Conventionally, it is used by the defence and aerospace industries to monitor for oncoming weather fronts, but it does not yet have a proven track record in offshore wind.

Normally, the wind resource at a windfarm is measured using large steel towers called met masts, which require a large capital investment (in the order of £10–12 million) incurred at risk before a project gets the go ahead. This adds significant upfront costs, which could inhibit the exploration of new sites. The OWA project aims to test how accurately scanning lidar technology can measure wind resource for

potential windfarm sites, which could deliver significant cost savings in the early stages of windfarm development.

As previously highlighted in OWJ, the OWA has been working for the past few years to support more cost-effective solutions, focusing on the development and commercialisation of a number of floating lidar systems to significantly reduce upfront capital expenditure. However, measurements taken by both masts and floating lidar are limited in that they only provide a measurement of the wind resource at a single point in space. For an offshore windfarm covering an area of up to 200 km2, this can create uncertainty on the wind speed at locations far from the measurement point. This is known as spatial variation, where measurements may not be representative of the entire site. This is translated into risk, incurring additional financing costs to windfarm development.

Scanning lidar technology has the potential to reduce the risk associated with spatial variation. The systems are capable of scanning with a usable range of between 10km and 30km, to impressive levels

of detail, taking over 100 measurements per minute. This allows developers to build a much more detailed picture of a site, not only significantly reducing uncertainty of spatial variation but also allowing developers to better plan the layouts of the turbines to best exploit the individual wind conditions at the site. Increasing confidence on spatial variation could reduce risk to minimal levels, which can save millions of pounds on a project and reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind.

A difference of only 0.2 mph in wind speed can result in significant variation of yield calculations over the lifetime of a windfarm. It is therefore critical that the industry has confidence in scanning lidar devices being sensitive enough to detect such small variations. The OWA trial aims to test the sensitivity of the devices to picking up these variations in wind resource.

The units involved in the trial are:• three Leosphere WINDCUBE vertical profiling lidars• a Leosphere WINDCUBE 400S scanning lidar• a Leosphere prototype scanning lidar• two Lockheed Martin

February 2016 saw the start of what is claimed to be the largest ever trial of scanning light detection and ranging (lidar) technology as part of a project designed to help reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind

Wind resource data has traditionally been collected using met masts, which are expensive to build and install, but lidar (foreground) is much less expensive


LIDAR | 39

WindTracer scanning lidarsMegan Smith, project

manager, wakes research at the Carbon Trust, noted that many factors can impact available wind resource at a potential windfarm site including its proximity to shore, neighbouring windfarms and as a result of tidal currents. “This project forms a really important stage of the OWA’s efforts to increase the industry’s understanding of wind resource measurement and validate the technologies capable of delivering results,” she said. “Project financing is a significant proportion of cost, so anything we can do to get a deeper understanding of yield will increase investor confidence and lower the cost of financing. Scanning lidar has the potential to take our understanding to a completely new level. In information terms, it is the difference between taking a still photo compared to having a three-dimensional video with full sound. The need to test the sensitivity of the technology is the next frontier in getting industry acceptance.

“This is an ambitious project and has relied on a range of key partners including RES, Irish Lights and the technology developers, Leosphere and Lockheed Martin, to get it successfully off the ground. We are looking forward to seeing what results and will be sharing them with the wider industry in due course.”

Simon Feeney, commercial manager for measurement services at RES, said the company believes scanning lidar “has the potential to radically change the approach to wind resource assessment for developers of offshore wind”.

Among the expected outcomes of the OWA project are wind resource data with spatial variation captured by scanning lidar, verified by a vertical profiling lidar; verification of wind speed

extrapolation models; assessment and validation of four different scanning lidar models; and a developed test site for future scanning lidar validation studies.

Work on lidar is also being undertaken elsewhere, such as in Germany, where researchers have created a wind measurement buoy with sophisticated, precise measurement technology. “Constant high wind speeds at sea can offset the huge investment costs for building windfarms and connecting them to the grid,” said Claudia Rudolph, a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Bremerhaven. Using a wind measurement buoy, the meteorologist and her team want to calculate the wind potential – and energy yields – that can be expected at a potential windfarm site, thus providing valuable support to developers.

The design of the Fraunhofer IWES lidar buoy is based on the light buoys that have been used in the North Sea for more than 30 years, which scientists have adapted to measure wind potential. It is more than 8m in length, has a diameter of 2.55m and weighs 4.9 tonnes. The buoy carries a lidar measuring device that measures wind speeds at heights of between 40m and 200m.

Fraunhofer IWES notes that, although the technology is already used on land, it was previously considered unsuitable for measurements on buoys and floating platforms because it was too imprecise. This was because the buoy’s own movement would distort measurements taken from it. To allow measurements to be carried out successfully from a moving structure, IWES researchers developed a correction algorithm that subtracts the buoy’s own movement from the measured values. The researchers say the floating lidar system guarantees high accuracy measurements that are comparable to results

obtained by fixed met masts installed offshore. This conclusion was validated by measurements carried out in the North Sea from a buoy installed in water depths of 30m at the Alpha Ventus offshore windfarm 45km off the coast of the island of Borkum, close to the FINO 1 met mast. The tests revealed a 99.7 per cent level of correlation between the values from the met mast and those from the buoy.

“Out in deep water, the lidar buoy is a genuine alternative to met masts, which can only measure wind speeds at a height of up to 100m,” said Ms Rudolph. She notes that another advantage of buoy-based lidar is that it can be used anywhere and is quick to install. She concurs that this makes the cost of a measurement campaign undertaken with lidar 5–10 times lower than those from a met mast. The buoys are also much easier and cheaper to maintain than wind met masts. Depending on individual requirements, the system can also measure other parameters such as waves, currents and temperatures at the same time.

Another of the buoy’s noteworthy features is the aluminium housing that encapsulates the lidar measuring device and protects it against salt water and the extreme environmental conditions at sea. The housing contains special glass through which the laser beam passes unhindered and unbroken into the atmosphere. An autonomous power supply system completes the package: three small 400-watt wind generators and three 70-watt solar panels generate the electricity; a trio of batteries store it. This ensures that reserve energy is available for a week without wind and sun. The floating platform also contains a computer for data communication. The data that is collected is transmitted via WLAN or satellite. OWJ

In brief■ An EOLOS FLS200 floating lidar buoy recently completed a six-month validation campaign alongside the IJmuiden mast in the North Sea. The campaign was carried out in collaboration with RWE Innogy, supported by the OWA and the Dutch R&D programme FLOW. Rajai Aghabi, CEO of EOLOS Floating Lidar Solutions, said the test results were “really satisfying”. Third-party validation reported excellent correlation and availability of results from the EOLOS FLS200, making it easily compliant with the Carbon Trust’s roadmap for commercial acceptance of floating lidar technology.

■ Goldwind Science & Technology Co Ltd has installed a ZephIR DM lidar on Beijing New Energy Technology’s 6-megawatt prototype direct-drive, permanent magnet wind turbine. The lidar will be used to optimise the performance of the prototype turbine before it enters into production.


40 | INNOVATIONS

Extensive offshore product range can make operations safer

I n February 2016, the Met Office in the UK launched SafeVoyage, a new product that provides reliable weather information for offshore vessels to help minimise exposure

to severe weather, improve safety and keep project costs to a minimum. The new product has already been selected for use in the offshore wind sector.

SafeVoyage offers a detailed weather forecast for a ship’s route, aiding planning of moving equipment and personnel. It is presented in an easy-to-interpret graphical format and includes wind and sea conditions along the route and tabulated data every three hours for significant wave height, swell details, wind and weather. Forecast start times can be generated to inform decisions concerning the best route and departure time. Thresholds can be set and winds specified at 10m, 50m or 100m as optional. The Met Office’s experienced meteorologists quality control every aspect of the SafeVoyage forecast, as well as including bespoke commentary, giving users complete confidence.

Met Office head of oil and gas and renewables Patrick Sachon said, “In marginal situations, it is vital to make decisions based on the best information possible. SafeVoyage provides reliable information to support decisions that could impact safety and efficiency. The product represents great value and is a compelling offering for the oil and gas, offshore renewable and shipping industries. What’s more, it is a flexible solution and can be tailored to fit individual requirements.”

Suitable for various sized vessels operating anywhere, SafeVoyage can be tailored to meet individual client requirements. The Met Office offers a range of parameters, and specific thresholds can be set. Forecast information is provided up to five days ahead. The Met Office’s expert meteorologists will check each forecast before it is issued, providing peace of mind and the confidence that route-planning decisions are well informed.

Evidence of the Met Office’s capability in the offshore wind sector is provided by two recent contracts it has been awarded for forecast service contracts for two windfarm developments in Germany. It will provide services to help with the safe construction and successful commissioning of the offshore windfarms in the southwest of the German Bight area of the North Sea.

Nordsee One GmbH, a 332 megawatt (MW) offshore wind project in the German North Sea, has chosen a range of Met Office services to ensure safety throughout the construction of 54 turbines. Nordsee One offshore windfarm, which is jointly owned

by Northland Power and RWEI Innogy, will be using Safesee, a web-based forecast delivery solution, and Premium Tab & Graph, a forecaster-reviewed five-day marine forecast of site-specific weather and warning information. It will also be utilising two further Met Office products – Port Forecasts and SafeVoyage. The project is due for completion in April 2017.

In addition, Veja Mate Offshore Project GmbH is using the Met Office’s services during its inter-array cable campaign from approximately August 2016 until March 2017. The offshore windfarm will consist of 67 turbines. Veja Mate, which is currently owned by the Highland Group (Siemens Financial Services and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), will be using Premium Tab & Graph and SafeVoyage from Hartlepool to the construction site plus forecasts on request for additional shipping routes during the inter-array cable campaign.

The Met Office also recently announced the provision of the first regulated weather briefing service to emergency response helicopter operators, including UK search and rescue (SAR) services. HeliBrief provides offshore helicopter pilots with flexible access to weather-based information. Now available across both tablet and mobile devices, helicopter operators are provided with essential weather information via tailored maps and charts, tracking route winds, triggered lightning, visibility and significant wave height information to inform the planning of safe routes and help contribute to improving the safety of helicopter operations. The HeliBrief service marks an extension of the Met Office’s existing Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) mandate to provide a regulated weather briefing service for offshore helicopter operators through its HeliBrief Offshore product, formerly known as OH Web. The product is now fully operational for offshore and emergency response helicopter operators across the UK. For more information, contact the Met Office Aviation team. OWJ

The Met Office in the UK has extended the range of products it provides for the offshore industry with new offerings that have quickly been adopted in the wind energy sector

The Met office says SafeVoyage offers a detailed weather forecast for a ship’s route, aiding planning and operations by equipment and personnel

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Political uncertainty makes investors and developers nervous, especially with an asset class like renewables that has historically been dependent upon government support to make

it viable,” said Macquarie Research. “However, one renewable energy technology that still seems to have broad political support is offshore wind power.”

It noted that Europe is leading the way in the construction of offshore windfarms. Of 11.7GW of global offshore wind capacity installed as of the end of 2015, 11GW was installed in Europe and the remaining 700MW in the Asia Pacific region, mostly in China. “The vast majority of offshore wind capacity in Europe is found in the UK and Germany, with just over 5GW and 3GW installed respectively at 2015,” it said.

It noted that investment in any form of energy generation can be difficult at the moment, due to extremely low wholesale power prices. According to Macquarie Research, baseload power prices in the UK fell by 26 per cent in 2015 and by 5 per cent since the start of October 2015. Macquarie has also reduced its power price forecast from £45.6 MWh to £38.6 MWh. It says this price level is insufficient to attract the large initial capital outlay required for most energy infrastructure projects.

“Market price risk is so difficult for investors at the moment that you need some sort of price underpinning, like the contract for difference (CFD) in the UK and the feed-in tariff (FIT) in Germany,” said Mark Dooley, Macquarie Capital’s head of infrastructure, utilities and renewables in Europe. Under the CFD scheme, the government pays the difference between the strike price and the wholesale cost of electricity. If the cost of electricity exceeds the strike price, the generator must then pay back the extra revenue to the government.

“This long-term, inflation-indexed revenue stream is precisely the kind of stable cash flow favoured by the fastest-growing source of equity and debt for European infrastructure, that is, institutional investors,” he explained. “Pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurers that invest in infrastructure have typically been attracted to assets such as regulated utilities and availability-based public-private partnerships (PPPs) that have fixed payments over a long-term period – up to 30 years in the case of some PPPs. However, as more institutional investors enter the infrastructure space – either on the equity or debt side – less conventional assets

such as offshore wind become more attractive.”Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions managing

director Kit Hamilton said offshore wind has the potential to offer stronger returns than more conventional infrastructure assets. He noted that, with returns approaching twice those of some PPPs, “it is fair to say offshore wind has a lot of attractive features for us, not least the large amount of capital that each offshore windfarm requires to be built. With project build costs typically well into the billions of pounds, offshore wind offers the kind of scale of investment opportunity that technologies such as onshore wind and solar cannot.”

Mr Dooley said the size of offshore wind financings are such that even Macquarie’s clients who traditionally have focused solely on big-ticket mergers and acquisitions are interested in the offshore wind market. “There’s so much investment opportunity here that they have to look at it,” he said. He said another attraction of offshore wind is the growing size of project pipelines in key markets like Germany and the UK.

An authoritative and detailed analysis of global investment in renewable energy reveals record global investment in renewable energy (US$285.9 billion in 2015, up 5 per cent) and record capacity installed (134GW, up from 106GW in 2014). Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016 is the 10th edition of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report. The new edition, commissioned by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre, can be downloaded from http://fs-unep-centre.org/publications/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2016. Chapter 2 of the report, entitled ‘Renewable energy in perspective’, highlights the way investment in green power has jumped far ahead of investment in fossil fuel generation but also shows that the world is not yet on course to rein in carbon emissions. OWJ

The research arm of Macquarie Bank says that, although it may be challenging for many forms of renewables in Europe to obtain finance, that it is not the case with offshore wind, for which it says there is an increasing appetite among investors

UN report highlights growing levels of investment

Offshore wind increasingly attractive to investors

“

FINANCE | 43


GERMAN PORTS GEAR UP FOR NEXT ROUND OF OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS

Recent months have seen a number of important developments at Germany’s North Sea ports, with an agreement signed for the operation of the Offshore Terminal Bremerhaven (OTB) in February and a second agreement for the construction of Berth 4 at Cuxhaven

More turbines were installed in German waters in 2015 than

ever before, a total of 546, making a combined total of 792 turbines generating a total output of 3,294.9 megawatts (MW) as of the end of 2015. A further 41 turbines equating to another 246MW were installed by the end of 2015 but had not been connected to the grid as of the end of the year. The pace of construction will be somewhat slower in 2016, but

Building manufacturing facilities close to or in ports such as Cuxhaven is

helping Siemens reduce costs

efficient ports remain essential for ongoing and future projects.

The OTB has been described as the most important port construction project that the two-city state of Bremen will implement this decade. It is already said to be making good progress, after representatives of BLG Logistics and bremenports signed the operating contract for the 25-hectare facility.

“We are pleased to have found a competent partner in BLG for the long-term operation of the facility,” said Ekkehart Siering, Bremen’s state councillor for ports. “The facility for the pre-assembly and transshipment of offshore wind turbines will be available by 2019,” said Mr Siering. “The OTB guarantees short distances between the industrial production and shipment. This will significantly strengthen Bremerhaven’s reputation as a


PORTS & LOGISTICS | 45

location for the offshore business. It will simultaneously make a major contribution to the successful implementation of the changeover to green power by reducing the logistics costs involved in the generation of energy from offshore windfarms.”

“We believe that the OTB will offer excellent transshipment facilities for the entire offshore wind industry,” said Frank Dreeke, chairman of the board at BLG Logistics. “We are not only thinking of new windfarms but of the growing number of existing windfarms that will require maintenance in future, as well as the regular need for repairs. We are delighted that we can put the experience we have acquired in this business to good use with the OTB.”

bremenports GmbH & Co KG was commissioned to plan and implement the new terminal by the senate department. “Our avowed aim was to have the new terminal operated by an experienced logistics company,” said Robert Howe, managing director of bremenports. “As a long-serving player in the offshore wind energy and heavy-lift logistics market, BLG undeniably has the necessary experience.”

A Europe-wide tender procedure was conducted to find an operator for the OTB. Under the terms of the contract awarded to BLG Logistics, the company will operate the OTB

for 30 years. The contract signed between the Federal Land of Bremen and BLG grants BLG a concession to operate the terminal at its own expense and risk. In return, the logistics company will pay a user fee to Bremen.

The operating concept for the terminal draws on BLG Logistics’ experience as a provider of logistics services for the offshore wind industry. Since 2012, the company has offered an interim solution for the storage and transshipment of wind turbines from a part of Bremerhaven’s Auto Terminal known as the ‘ABC peninsula,’ where the company was also involved in the construction of offshore windfarms such as Global Tech 1 and Borkum West.

Initial work on the OTB started at the end of 2015 with the installation of geotextile bags followed by clearing of the woodland on the borders of the adjacent airport site in January 2016. “Work is proceeding according to schedule,” said Mr Howe, who said he is convinced that the company will be be able to hand over the new terminal to BLG Logistics in late 2018/early 2019. Once it is in operation, two to three jack-up vessels will be able to operate from a new 500m quay, depending on their size.

Germany’s state secretary for economic affairs Daniela Behrens gave the go-ahead for the construction of Berth 4 in Cuxhaven in mid-

February, following approval of the project by the European Commission. The managing director and branch manager of Niedersachsen Ports (Nports) Holger Banik and Hans-Gerd Janssen signed the licence agreements for the operation of the terminal at the mouth of the River Elbe along with Cuxport’s managing directors Hans-Peter Zint and Michael de Reese. The agreements regulate the long-term operation of the terminal by Cuxport. A 240m quay and 8.5 hectares of additional quay space will be created for the new berth. Construction is expected to cost €36 million.

Siemens is currently building a manufacturing

facility for offshore wind turbines at Cuxhaven. The 170,000m2 factory is due to be up and running from mid-2017, allowing the group to produce its new 7MW turbines there. The company is investing €200 million at the new facility. Pile driving for the new factory got underway in early March 2016. By mid-2017, production of nacelles for Siemen’s next-generation D7 wind turbines is to begin. This will include final assembly of generators, hubs and nacelles. The location of the new facility at the port allows heavy components to be loaded directly onto vessels, thereby avoiding expensive transportation on land.

EMO SECURES EEMSHAVEN DEALSiemens Nederland has signed a contract with EMS Maritime Offshore (EMO) for the construction and operation of an offshore base at in Eemshaven in The Netherlands. The new base will be used to support offshore windfarms.

The long-term agreement with EMO will see the expansion of the existing EMO terminal for future operations and maintenance (O&M) work. A new warehouse will also be erected in the Beatrixhaven area, along with an administration building, space for changing rooms, showers, accommodation and meeting rooms geared to the requirements of Siemens. EMO Nederland’s terminal has direct access to the water and plenty of room.

An initial 3,500m² area has already been paved and will be extended to 33,000m².

Siemens is due to supply and install 150 wind turbines for the Gemini offshore windfarm in Dutch waters and was recently awarded a 15-year O&M services contract to support the windfarm once built. Siemens was looking for a suitable site for a base for the O&M activity and selected EMO in Eemshaven.

“We wanted a long-term solution, which meets our values of green logistics and which lies in close proximity to the windfarm,” said Siemens’ project manager Mikael Majgaard. “EMO has created an exemplary logistics concept.” OWJ

An artist’s impression of the Berth 4 facility at Cuxhaven


46 | TURBINE SUPPORT VESSELS

Is seafarer fatigue understood in the offshore wind industry?

Recently, when working late revising a presentation for RenewableUK on fatigue, I sat looking out at the cars passing, nose to tail on the A16 motorway in Rotterdam.

They were large cars driven by successful managers and were fitted with all the creature comforts of the modern vehicle, including soundproofing to block out the world outside.

As I am often on the other side of the office window, I know what is going on in those cocoons of successful business. After a full day making major decisions that affect the future of their companies and livelihood of their employees, they can now relax in comfort, make those last few calls and wind down in preparation for home life and family. They are, however, at their highest exposure point of physical risk to harm themselves or their surroundings when at their lowest awareness point of the day. Seeing this from the remoteness

of my desk, I reflected on the work cycles of windfarm crew transfer vessels with particular feeling for those who have long runs to and from base port.

Currently, the leaders of the offshore wind industry, driven by regulators in the UK, are very focused on the transfer process to and from a turbine’s boat landing. As a vessel operator, I am highly concerned about the high speed transit passage at the end of the day. When the vessel is in the field and pushing on to towers, all onboard are keenly aware that this is an operation with a high potential for incident. They must all work together as a team to do it safely.

Intuitively, the ‘bump and jump’ transfer method looks risky, but analysis of safety statistics regularly shows a lower number of injuries than other operations offshore. I believe that this is because everyone is ‘switched on’ to the risk and to the personnel in harm’s way – that is, the technician who is climbing and the deckhand who is at the transfer point assisting him. The passage home, however, places everyone onboard at risk and relies on one or two persons to maintain awareness at a time when the perceived risk is lower.

by Philip Woodcock*

‘Bump and jump’ transfer looks risky, but analysis of safety statistics shows the process is less risky than might be anticipated


TURBINE SUPPORT VESSELS | 47

The cycle is repeated for up to 21 days, and with overtime for additional client work in the field and delays at the bunker point or to complete essential maintenance makes for long, tiring days. From my observations onboard, I have noted that, on busy days when the vessel is supporting teams that are inspecting multiple towers, there can be upwards of 100 transfers in a working day, each transfer on and off the vessel counted separately.

As we are well aware, the transfer process is perceived as a high risk process and so the vessel crew is working at a heightened level of concentration for extended periods of time.

The industry works within the hours of work and rest limitations in the STCW and MLC Conventions and incorporated in UK law through the Merchant Shipping (Hours of Work Regulations) 2002 and the Workboat Code (MGN 280). As stated in MLC 2006, the minimum hours of rest shall not be less than:. 10 hours in any 24-hour period. 77 hours in any seven-day period.Hours of rest may be divided in no more than two periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length.

These rules stem from and address the very real risks to seafarers making mistakes through fatigue or having health risks. However, they do not reflect the practical implementation of operating vessels in the windfarm industry and the work cycle that affects the crews. The G9 Offshore Wind Health and Safety Association has tried to reflect how international regulation is applicable to the windfarm industry in section 5.3.1 of its guidance document The Good Practice Guideline – The Safe Management of Small Service Vessels Used in the Offshore Wind Industry. They go even further to clarify that working time is to include starting up and shutting down of the vessel and bunkering. This is a welcome clarification, as some charterers have long believed that, because they have chartered the vessel for 12

hours, they get 12 working hours offshore and everything in port is the problem of the vessel operator. The G9 clarification is welcome but does not address the cycle of fatigue that affects crew transfer vessel crews.

The cycle of fatigue goes something like this: “I am under stress so I cannot sleep, therefore my fatigue increases, and my fatigue makes it harder to deal with stress,” and so the cycle continues. I have witnessed this cycle and seen how crews eat to maintain their awareness. As shown in the example routine above, it is not uncommon for a crew to not eat breakfast until they are in the field and have delivered their passengers. As the master’s job is a sedentary one with prolonged periods of high concentration, he might be concerned about what he eats and so have a salad for lunch. However, by the end of the day as he is leaving the field for the passage home, he is low on energy and is fatigued from hours of high concentration whilst performing transfers. At this time, it is tempting to have a few biscuits and a last cup of coffee or two on the run home. These both will impact the waistline he was trying preserve at lunch but also provide additional caffeine that may make sleep difficult that night.

The University of Hull, recognising that the majority of industry research has been placed into the transfer process with little thought given to the wellbeing of the technicians in transit so that they are in a fit state to perform their tasks when they arrive on site, is commencing a project into the transit process. I believe that a key element is a better understanding of the wellbeing of the vessel crews who deliver the technicians to and from the work site. A very senior safety leader in the windfarm industry once said to me that windfarm operators “place their 12 most valuable eggs into our basket” with little thought of the health and wellbeing of who holds the handle. If the work cycle of operations is not understood and considered – especially at times of increased commercial pressure – there is the risk that these eggs might get scrambled on the passage home, just like one of those executives I see out of my window, who is now at the side of the road after being in an accident. OWJ

*Philip Woodcock is operations director of Workships Contractors and chairman of the Workboat Safety Forum

Based on my operational experience, the work cycle of an average crew transfer vessel can be described as follows:

0530–0600 wake up and go to the vessel – time depends on distance to travel.

0630 board vessel, daily checks and warm up engines – download passenger manifest and prepare passage, and hopefully get a cup of tea or coffee

0650 move over to loading berth and await passengers

0700 board passengers and cargo0715 depart for field0830 arrive in field and start dropping off teams1000 all passengers away and crew have chance to

have breakfast1200–lunch this may involve collecting technicians for

lunch onboard before transferring to new towers depending on work plan for the day

1600 start collecting teams from towers1645 commence passage back to base port1800 discharge passengers, take bunkers if

needed, do maintenance and clean vessel1900 leave the vessel and go for dinner.

Vessel operators say the industry needs greater awareness of all aspects of a crew transfer operation, from start-up to shutdown


“The UK is well placed to take advantage of its offshore oil and gas expertise, easing workers from fossil fuels into renewables”

advantage of its 40 years of offshore expertise by easing the transition for workers from fossil fuels into renewables. We have already seen traditional developers – such as Statoil and Repsol – diversify into offshore wind and there is a large supply chain of offshore contractors with a track record of winning work in offshore wind and oil and gas.

“As the industry grows, so it is learning from oil and gas about how to operate safely at sea. A great example is the use of helicopters by our industry for construction and maintenance work, with helicopter firms now active in the wind market. There is a great opportunity for establishing a clearer path to retrain workers for a life in clean energy,” he told OWJ. “This means providing resources for people who may not be aware of the opportunities to make the transition. Their experience working in other parts of the offshore energy sector is highly sought after, with professionalism and transferable skills all valued highly in offshore wind.

“The practical work of our industry to support workers in transition comes in many forms. UK companies take their supply chain responsibilities seriously and are active in supporting UK firms to win contracts. As an industry, we run regular supply chain events to help companies and future employees understand about how to go about winning work. We have an annual skills fair putting companies and potential employees together while also providing advice and background to those wanting to move into our industry, and we work across training providers to make sure that there is good training available. There is a lot that individuals can do for themselves to win work in this exciting industry,” he concluded, “but the government’s work is a vital part of coordinating efforts to support oil and gas industry employees, and it is equally important for offshore wind. Our sector is proud to be part of the solution for hardworking energy sector workers and their families.” OWJ

Maf Smith is a well known figure in the renewables industry, but right now, he is reaching out to the offshore oil and gas sector.

“We’re proud to be the world leader in offshore wind – a technology that we started installing in British waters in the early 2000s,” he told OWJ. “Sharing space out at sea is the UK’s world-leading oil and gas sector, which has been an important part of the UK economy since the 1960s. We are two industries both delivering economic success for the country. However, right now, low oil prices are having an effect on investment and employment. Many in the industry are thinking long and hard about the industry’s long-term prospects. There is some hope, however, for the many experienced oil industry employees who may be worried about the future. That hope comes from offshore wind.”

As he noted, in January, the UK government announced work on a UK Oil & Gas ‘Workforce Plan’ to examine, among other things, how it can support workers who have lost their jobs or may be in danger of doing so. RenewableUK has taken an active role in this process, helping government identify the scale of the opportunity presented by offshore wind for former employees in oil and gas.

“Offshore wind already contributes 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity and supports around 15,000 people in employment,” said Mr Smith. “By the end of this decade, the UK’s offshore wind sector will double in size, and there are opportunities in construction and operation of a growing number of sites. New offshore projects in development are exponentially larger than existing windfarms in terms of size and scale. To be built, these power plants will need huge numbers of highly skilled individuals. Offshore windfarms have long development programmes, a construction phase of two to three years and an operating lifetime of 20–25 years. This is where oil and gas comes in,” he explained. “The UK is perfectly placed to take

Renewables leader sees benefits in shared workforce

Maf Smith, deputy chief executive, RenewableUK

48 | PROFILE

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