ENGINEERING FEATURE
Hugh Yendole: DONG Energy Power (UK) Ltd . Director and Programme Manager: DONG Supply Chain Requirements, presented at Wynyard Hall Hotel, Teesside, North East England, 29 February 2012.
Many systems were obsolete within 10 to 15 years, dependent on either the manufacturer or technology selected. This is something that the wind farm industry should bear in mind when designing offshore wind farm support systems.
RAPID TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES The offshore wind farm associated technology is developing at a fast pace. A lesson gained from the offshore industry is to ensure the structure and facilities can accommodate modifications, if technology advances make it profitable to install future upgrades. This is a difficult balance, but one must consider the lifecycle of wind farms as opposed to driving costs down early in the design.
INSTALLATION Installation of both types of facilities, offshore NUI and wind turbines, including associated subsea infrastructure depend upon limited availability of sea going vessels. Also, installation is typically planned for the summer months to avoid delays due to bad weather. Securing a sea going vessel for the installation early in the design phase will greatly influence the installation date and cost of installation
HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES Installation and lifting large loads in the oil & gas industry are deemed high risk activities due to the nature of high potential consequences. Risk Management and meticulous planning are employed for such activities. Even with the best planning and risk management processes in place, undesirable outcomes can still happen.
MAINTENANCE In the oil & gas industry new facilities make use of the latest technology for performance monitoring to aid planned and predictive maintenance as opposed to reactive maintenance when a component fails. There has been a shift to “more information is better”, sometimes the items you think will be the most likely to fail are often the ones that do not. Having the “more information” as opposed to “no information” allows maintenance engineers to make informative decisions as opposed to blind ones.
SUMMARY UK companies are encouraged to grasp the opportunities developing in the offshore wind farm industry.
At a recent DONG Energy presentation, Hugh Yendole informed the assembled audience that DONG Energy were presently developing offshore wind farms using the six megawatt (6MW) generation of wind turbines that are specifically designed for offshore operation rather being onshore derivatives of the three megawatt (3MW) on land units.
The discussions included the development of ten or even twenty (10-20MW) units (with the 20MW units each having their own helipad!). DONG indicate from this that the way ahead is one of continuous improvement.
These developments open up great opportunities for UK companies and, especially, engineers and consultants who have a wealth of offshore experience.
Newcastle Chambers of Engineering
www.ncoe.co.uk
e = See enhanced entry online
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
81
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140