Floating Offshore wind farm O&M logistics optimization based on Copernicus environment- FLOCOP

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) is crucial for offshore wind industry. In fact, last decade experience evidenced that accessibility rates have a significative impact over OPEX costs. Thus, O&M logistics will play a significative role in the cost of the energy produced by floating offshore wind farms because of the extra complexity added by the floating issue. Moreover, another extra of complexity of O&M is the wide variety of fails that need to be faced during the life span of the offshore wind farm. Therefore, different support vessels, marine operations and port facilities will be required depending on the failure observed.

Usually, the O&M strategies are based on the definition of safety thresholds associated to specific metocean parameters (Hs, Wind intensity…). However, marine operations are usually highly non-linear processes where the risk assessment cannot relay over a simplified safety threshold definition. Understanding the interaction between the marine environment and floating structures is crucial for a safe operation of floating offshore wind farms. Nowadays, the digitalization of engineering is a reality. However, digital twins need to be coupled to reality through observations. Here is where Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Services (CMEMS), takes a great relevance. CMEMS is capable to provide short and long-term information, crucial for O&M at different stages: (1) Planification stage and (2) Operative stage.

The present project attempts to take the most from both by coupling advanced hydrodynamics with advanced marine observation systems in order to evidence the benefits of a hybrid strategy where digitalization is coordinated with observation (Digitalization + Copernicus). This application to floating offshore wind is ideal since it is a novel technology willing to untap ocean resources at deep and very deep waters, the next frontier for civil applications.

From the application of the methodology developed by the consortium composed by Environmental Hydraulics Institute of Cantabria (IHCantabria) and Ingeteam Power Technology S.A., Service Division (POSEIDOM and TRITOM projects) to reference floating offshore wind farms, we can conclude that the O&M logistics has a strong impact over the wind farm availability. Differences about a 5% between optimized and non-optimized O&M logistics have been evidenced. Moreover, it has been identified that the importance of the size of the CTV to be used, something which is a balance between cost and availability. Many other parameters like the logistic time between alarm and mobilization, the boatlanding orientation and position, may lead to extra 1% of availability losses in a floating offshore wind farm.  Therefore, the main objective of the FLOCOP initiative is to develop a downstream service where the information collected by COPERNICUS system (marine and atmospheric services) will become one of the three main pillars of the O&M system, providing short and long-term metocean data key for the digitalization of O&M logistics.

These goals will be achieved through 3 specific objectives:

1. To examine the challenges of the O&M in offshore wind farms.
2. To analyse how Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Services can improve the methodologies for optimizing the O&M strategies.
3. To use Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Services in the strategies for operation and maintenance offshore wind farms.

A piloting downstream application will be conducted in a real offshore wind farm with a relevant stakeholder. This will be key to validate the robustness and marketing of the new service.