WFO releases White Paper Challenges and Opportunities of Major Maintenance for Floating Offshore Wind

WORLD FORUM OFFSHORE WIND (WFO) published its White Paper Challenges and Opportunities of Major Maintenance for Floating Offshore Wind. The report is the result of one year’s worth of monthly discussions between participating WFO members during meetings of WFO’s Floating Offshore Wind Committee on the topic of floating wind major maintenance concepts.
Experts in the industry gave their practical insights on four major maintenance concepts: tow-to-port, tow-to-shore, floating-to-floating and self-hoisting equipment. Differences in feasibility were identified between offsite and onsite approaches for major component replacement, with offsite approaches being perceived as more feasible in the short-term.
Technology innovations across all four maintenance concepts are required to address bigger turbines and larger arrays; these are expected to completely disrupt and transform current beliefs in major component replacement operations. Project-specific conditions ultimately influence the chosen O&M approach for a floating wind farm, with some example parameters
listed in this report.
To optimize the business case, it is recommended to consider O&M issues alongside the early technological, financial, and logistics aspects of a floating wind project. Early communication at the design stage but also with stakeholders from ports and the insurance industry can help ensure that certain issues are not ignored in the CAPEX phase; facilitate the use of new
technologies; and prepare the harbors crucial to delivering volume.

Ilmas Bayati, Chairman O&M Subcommittee, PEAK Wind: “The commercial scale-up of floating wind farms requires a change of mindset about operations and maintenance. O&M will be a competitive differentiator and this white paper sets the scene on major repairs.”

Gunnar Herzig, Managing Director, WFO: “This second floating offshore wind White Paper underlines WFO’s pragmatic approach of providing practical insights and recommendations for the industry developed by the industry.”

All WFO White Papers can be openly accessed on the WFO website: www.wfo-global.org