Siemens Gamesa is working with marine and subsea solutions provider Acteon to jointly provide a fully integrated operations and maintenance (O&M) package for Dominion Energy’s 12MW Coastal Virginia offshore wind pilot project off the US east coast.
The partners said they will work together to fully optimise the wind turbine service and balance of plant O&M work scopes at the wind farm.
“Bundling the above water and subsea balance of plant services with the wind turbine service results in a reduction in turbine downtime for planned maintenance activities and a lower cost of energy,” Siemens Gamesa said.
“This partnership enables Siemens Gamesa to optimise the use of required vessels, while reducing the amount of downtime for the turbine,” it added.
Siemens Gamesa will use its own technicians for performing the above water balance of plant inspections, while Acteon will support the subsea general visual, marine growth and anode inspection.
A low-logistics inspection class remotely operated vehicle – Seatronics Valor – will be used to provide a complete overview of the structural integrity of the asset, Siemens Gamesa said.
Siemens Gamesa head of Americas offshore operations Michael Hughes said: “We are utilising our advanced experiences across our global offshore presence to be the first OEM to package these capabilities for the U.S. offshore market.
“By delivering the full O&M package, we provide numerous benefits such as a streamlined and optimised maintenance plan during the most ideal weather periods, full utilisation of the project’s existing O&M workforce and more efficiently share the projects logistical assets across these work scopes.
“Ultimately driving down the cost of offshore wind energy.”
Acteon vice president Tim Eyles said: “Acteon’s integrated solutions team is proud to be working with Siemens Gamesa to offer a new business model for offshore wind asset integrity whereby, as a joint-effort, Siemens Gamesa will provide all above waterline asset integrity inspection and Acteon Group companies TerraSond, Seatronics, Deepwater, and Clarus, will inspect the subsea components.
“This partnership will ensure that our customers experience safe optimised inspection scheduling and more efficient resource utilisation.”
The Coastal Virginia pilot features two Siemens Gamesa 6.0-154 turbines, which are expected to deliver first power shortly.