The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult has launched a new project focused on reducing operational costs for floating offshore wind farms by improving monitoring and replacement methods for mooring lines and dynamic cables.
The initiative will be delivered by the Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence in collaboration with Apollo Engineering and DOF Subsea UK.
“Operating and maintaining a floating offshore wind farm creates challenges not previously faced in fixed offshore wind, including the monitoring and replacement of mooring lines and dynamic cables,” said Sean Snee, floating offshore wind team leader at ORE Catapult.
“More data is required to accurately assess key component failures and what leads to them.”
He added: “The learnings from this project could reduce the overall cost of floating offshore wind mooring line and dynamic cable repairs and replacement across the UK and internationally.”
The ‘Mooring line and dynamic cable monitoring and replacement methodologies’ project aims to develop insight into monitoring and maintenance requirements for floating wind mooring and cable components.
Historic repair costs for mooring lines on oil assets have exceeded £400m per incident, while cable faults account for 70%-80% of UK offshore wind insurance claims.
“Understanding the specific requirements of mooring and cable repair is essential to minimise floating wind costs,” said Will Brindley, lead naval architect at Apollo Engineering.
Mike Kearney, renewables project manager at DOF Subsea UK, added: “We’re proud to be collaborating with Apollo and ORE Catapult, bringing together innovation and operational know-how to help commercialise floating wind at scale.”
The Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence supports the UK supply chain and aims to derisk innovation in floating wind technology and operations.
Its mission includes establishing the UK as a global leader in floating offshore wind and attracting further R&D investment.