The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult is working with Scottish company Span Access Solutions on the development of a new approach to accessing offshore wind turbine blades that could save the industry over £1bn.
The £830,000 Innovate UK-backed Blade Access System and Working Environment (BASE) project is adapting Span’s tower-mounted platform (pictured) to provide a stable working environment for technicians carrying out maintenance on offshore wind farms.
Turner Access, Turner Iceni as well as Dundee and Robert Gordon universities are also working on the BASE project.
A prototype will be developed and piloted at the ORE Catapult’s 7MW Levenmouth demo turbine in Fife.
ORE Catapult cost modelling estimates that the new system has the potential to reduce the levelised cost of energy by 0.6%, which equates to savings of £1.05bn over the lifetime of the 13.5GW of offshore wind capacity currently installed in Europe.
Span Access managing director Ross Turner said: “The BASE solution will be faster to deploy and more flexible to use than traditional suspended platforms and so the revenue lost from forced turbine shutdowns associated with blade maintenance will be substantially reduced.
“The BASE habitat environment is also unique. We’ll be able to control the temperature and humidity within the habitat, increasing the weather windows for performing maintenance and improving the quality of complex repairs that require stable environmental conditions for curing materials.”
ORE Catapult strategy manager Andy Kay said: “The BASE project could revolutionise offshore wind blade access and repair. The project will deliver a solution that can be used by all blade maintenance providers and will reduce the number of repairs and associated costs required over the lifetime of an offshore wind project and help improve health and safety.
“Accessing real-world operational sites to test and demonstrate new products can be a real barrier to small companies looking to break into the offshore wind market. Using our Levenmouth turbine offers an easily accessible alternative to demonstrating the BASE solution offshore in harsh and difficult to access sites.”