Offshore wind turbine technology is moving forward as a cleaner alternative to the fossil fuelled power production. However, there are a number of challenges in offshore; wind turbines are subject to different loads that are not often experienced onshore and more importantly challenging wind and wave conditions limit the operability of the vessels needed to access offshore wind farms. As the power generation capacity improves constantly, advanced planning of Operation and Maintenance (O&M)activities, which supports the developers in achieving reduced downtime, optimised availability and maximised revenue, has gained vital importance. In this context, the focus of this research is the investigation of the most cost-effective approach to allocate O&M resources which may include helicopter, crew transfer vessels, offshore access vessels, and jack-up vessels. This target is achieved through the implementation of a time domain Monte-Carlo simulation approach which includes analysis of environmental conditions (wind speed, wave height, and wave period), operational analysis of transportation systems, investigation of failures (type and frequency), and simulation of repairs. The developed methodology highlights how the O&M fleets can be operated in a cost-effective manner in order to support associated day-to-day O&M activities and sustain continuous power production
The Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output.
The offshore wind industry, which aims to reduce the operational costs, usually achieved through learning curves and supply chain improvements, has seen drastic cost increase over the last five years. In order to sustain the competitiveness of the offshore wind industry against other renewable energy sources, the cost of offshore wind needs to come down to today's onshore cost. This cost reduction target can be achieved through optimising the offshore related operations which contribute the most to the operating expenditures (OPEX) of the offshore wind farms. In this paper, the investigation of optimum crew transfer vessel fleet, which indicates the influence of fleet size and characteristics of the vessels involved in the operations, is introduced with a focus on power production, total cost of the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and revenue loss. A time domain Monte-Carlo approach is adopted while taking into consideration the climate parameters, failure characteristics of turbine components, the specification of crew transfer vessels, and the composition of vessel fleet. Through this extensive study, it is concluded the O&M related costs can be reduced significantly while the availability and the productivity of the turbines can be increased by optimising the use of the O&M vessel fleet in terms of fleet size and vessel capabilities.
Operating further from shore increases the logistic challenges of offshore wind Operation and Maintenance (O&M) activities. Therefore, available vessels in the market and the variety of benefits & drawbacks of different vessel chartering strategies have to be considered in the O&M planning. In contrast with the prospects, operating expenditure (OPEX) of the offshore wind farms has been increasing, reflecting greater risk for potential investors and current operators. In this context, significant cost reductions can be achieved through optimising the offshore related operations, considering the fact that vessel associated costs dominate the total OPEX of the projects. In this paper, the investigation of optimum chartering strategy for jack-up vessels, which indicates the influence of the chartering strategy, charter period, and the characteristics of the vessels involved in the operations, is introduced. Climate parameters, failure characteristics of turbine components, and the vessel specifications are synthesised in a time domain Monte–Carlo approach. The results can assist operators in developing long-term O&M plans. Through this extensive study, it is concluded that optimum O&M cost can be achieved by selecting optimum chartering strategy for jack-up vessels. In addition, regional collaborations between different offshore wind developers can be an alternative solution to reduce the O&M costs
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