Floating offshore wind turbines port requirements for construction

Abstract

Floating offshore wind is an emerging technology that holds considerable potential to utilise areas deeper than 60 m for sustainable energy generation. As the floating offshore wind turbine industry continues to develop and grow, the capabilities of established port facilities need to be assessed as to their ability to support the expanding construction and installation requirements. This article assesses current infrastructure requirements and projected changes to port facilities that may be required to support the floating offshore wind industry. Understanding the infrastructure needs will help to identify the port-related requirements. Floating offshore wind turbines can be installed further out to sea and in deeper waters than traditional fixed offshore wind arrays, meaning they can take advantage of stronger winds and additional sea locations. Separate ports are required for substructure construction and fit-out of the turbines and maintenance. Large areas are required, about twice the plan area of the structure, for the laydown of mooring equipment, inter array cables, turbine blades and nacelles. The capabilities of established port facilities to support floating wind farms can be assessed by evaluation of size of substructures, height of wind turbine with regards to the cranes for fitting of blades, distance to offshore site and offshore installation vessel characteristics. Spar, barge, TLP and semisubmersible types have been deployed as demonstration units. Pre commercial units have been installed off the coasts of Portugal and the east coast of Scotland. This article reviews and defines the port and shipyard requirements for floating offshore wind turbines. It will support decision-makers to guide port infrastructure investments and project developers in their site selections. There up to 15 port functions that need to be considered, for construction, assembly and support of offshore activities. These could be fulfilled by one or a combination of different ports.

Fuzzy-Set QCA on Performance and Sustainability Determinants of Ports Supporting Floating Offshore Wind Farms

“…His study is based on case studies of ports in the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the United States, but does not provide a conceptual framework for an industrial port specifically designed for this purpose. In the same vein, there are infrastructural modifications required for ports to support the floating offshore wind industry, with impacts on regions and cities [36]. The Irish offshore wind industry faces several challenges, among them, the lack of public supporting ports that must be built [37].…”

Mitigation of assembly constraints for floating offshore wind turbines using discrete event simulation

“…This approach presents a much greater logistical challenge compared to the construction of bottom fixed offshore wind projects, as synchronising multiple construction activities in parallel will require a detailed understanding of FOWT construction processes, including required resources and the likely duration of each activity. The construction of FOWTs for a project represents a significant planning and logistics problem as three main assembly activities need to be performed on every FOWT before it can be transported and installed at the wind farm site, namely (a) assembly of the foundation, (b) loadout of the foundation with possible subsequent transit between different construction sites by sea, and (c) wind turbine generator (WTG) and tower integration with the floating foundation [11,12] (figure 2). To assist with the planning of Figure 2: Assembly activities in the construction of a floating offshore wind foundation these phases, it will be crucial for project planners to understand the likely duration of different assembly activities across ports over the year.…”