scholarly journals Installation, Operation, and Maintenance Strategies to Reduce the Cost of Offshore Wind Energy

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Maples ◽  
G. Saur ◽  
M. Hand ◽  
R. van de Pietermen ◽  
T. Obdam
2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Carton ◽  
Carter DuVal ◽  
Arthur Trembanis

AbstractMunitions and explosives of concern (MEC) in U.S. waters can present a risk to the development and operation of offshore wind energy resources. Therefore, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management requires offshore wind energy developers to evaluate the risk MEC poses to the development, operation, and maintenance of offshore wind energy generation and transmission systems. This article describes an MEC risk management framework consisting of the following steps: (1) MEC hazard assessment, (2) MEC risk assessment, (3) MEC risk validation, and (4) MEC risk mitigation. The MEC hazard assessment involves historical research to identify MEC potentially present in the development area. The MEC risk assessment evaluates the development activities and provides a relative MEC risk ranking for those activities. The developer determines the acceptability of these risks, and any potentially unacceptable MEC risks undergo risk validation through field surveys. The developer then considers the tolerability of the validated risks and develops and implements an appropriate MEC risk mitigation strategy based on actual site conditions. A risk framework provides a structured method to plan and operationalize the identification, evaluation, and mitigation of MEC risk throughout the development, operation, and maintenance life cycle of an offshore wind energy generation and transmission project.


Author(s):  
Abdollah A. Afjeh ◽  
◽  
Brett Andersen ◽  
Jin Woo Lee ◽  
Mahdi Norouzi ◽  
...  

Development of novel offshore wind turbine designs and technologies are necessary to reduce the cost of offshore wind energy since offshore wind turbines need to withstand ice and waves in addition to wind, a markedly different environment from their onshore counterparts. This paper focuses on major design challenges of offshore wind turbines and offers an advanced concept wind turbine that can significantly reduce the cost of offshore wind energy as an alternative to the current popular designs. The design consists of a two-blade, downwind rotor configuration fitted to a fixed bottom or floating foundation. Preliminary results indicate that cost savings of nearly 25% are possible compared with the conventional upwind wind turbine designs.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longfu Luo ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhang ◽  
Dongran Song ◽  
Weiyi Tang ◽  
Jian Yang ◽  
...  

As onshore wind energy has depleted, the utilization of offshore wind energy has gradually played an important role in globally meeting growing green energy demands. However, the cost of energy (COE) for offshore wind energy is very high compared to the onshore one. To minimize the COE, implementing optimal design of offshore turbines is an effective way, but the relevant studies are lacking. This study proposes a method to minimize the COE of offshore wind turbines, in which two design parameters, including the rated wind speed and rotor radius are optimally designed. Through this study, the relation among the COE and the two design parameters is explored. To this end, based on the power-coefficient power curve model, the annual energy production (AEP) model is designed as a function of the rated wind speed and the Weibull distribution parameters. On the other hand, the detailed cost model of offshore turbines developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is formulated as a function of the rated wind speed and the rotor radius. Then, the COE is formulated as the ratio of the total cost and the AEP. Following that, an iterative method is proposed to search the minimal COE which corresponds to the optimal rated wind speed and rotor radius. Finally, the proposed method has been applied to the wind classes of USA, and some useful findings have been obtained.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1386
Author(s):  
Ángel M. Costa ◽  
José A. Orosa ◽  
Diego Vergara ◽  
Pablo Fernández-Arias

Both the reduction in operating and maintenance (O&M) costs and improved reliability have become top priorities in wind turbine maintenance strategies. O&M costs typically account for 20% to 25% of the total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of current wind power systems. This paper provides a general review of the state of the art of research conducted on wind farm maintenance in recent years. It shows the new methods and techniques, focusing on trends and future challenges. In addition to this, this work includes a review of the following items: (i) operation and maintenance, (ii) failure rate, (iii) reliability, (iv) condition monitoring, (v) maintenance strategies, (vi) maintenance and life cycle and (vii) maintenance optimization As for offshore wind turbines, it is crucial to limit the maximum faults, since the maintenance of these wind farms is more complex both technically and logistically. Research into wind farm maintenance increased by 87% between 2007 and 2019, with more than 38,000 papers (Scopus) including “wind energy” as the main topic and some keywords related to O&M costs. The LCOE in onshore wind projects has decreased by 45%, while in offshore projects it has decreased by 28%. The O&M costs of onshore wind projects fell 52%, while in the case of offshore projects, they have declined 45%. Thus, the results obtained in this paper suggest that there is a change in research on wind farm operation and maintenance, as in recent years, scientific interest in failure has been increasing, while interest in the various techniques of wind farm maintenance and operation has been decreasing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Beiter ◽  
Walter Musial ◽  
Patrick Duffy ◽  
Aubryn Cooperman ◽  
Matthew Shields ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N. Elkinton ◽  
James F. Manwell ◽  
Jon G. McGowan

Offshore wind energy technology is a reality in Europe and is poised to make a significant contribution to the U.S. energy supply in the near future as well. The layout of an offshore wind farm is a complex problem involving many trade-offs. For example, energy production increases with turbine spacing, as do electrical costs and losses. Energy production also increases with distance from shore, but so do O&M (operations and maintenance), foundation, transmission, and installation costs. Determining which of these factors dominates requires a thorough understanding of the physics behind these trade-offs, can lead to the optimal layout, and helps lower the cost of energy from these farms. This paper presents the results of a study carried out to investigate these trade-offs and to develop a method for optimizing the wind farm layout during the micrositing phase of an offshore wind energy system design. It presents a method for analyzing the cost of energy from offshore wind farms as well as a summary of the development of an offshore wind farm layout optimization tool. In addition to an initial validation of the optimization tool, an example of the use of this tool for the design of an offshore wind farm in Hull, Massachusetts, is also given.


Author(s):  
Juan Chiachío-Ruano ◽  
Mahé Hermile ◽  
Athanasios Kolios

Abstract The rampant growth of offshore wind energy in Europe and overseas is calling for advanced operation and maintenance simulation tools for optimal infrastructure asset management. The operational downtimes due to random failures, repair times or adverse weather conditions, greatly reduce the availability of the wind farm and therefore increase the Levelised Cost of Energy of this important source of renewable energy. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis to explore the factors influencing the most the operational availability of an offshore wind farm over a particular geographical area. The analysis is carried out using a newly developed open-access tool for operation and maintenance simulation named as “OpenO&M”. The failure rates of wind turbine components and the weather safety allowable limits for maintenance vessels emerge as critical parameters for wind farm availability, specially in remote areas.


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