Optimisation of maintenance routing and scheduling for offshore wind farms

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAn optimisation model and a solution method for maintenance routing and scheduling at offshore wind farms are proposed. The model finds the optimal schedule for maintaining the turbines and the optimal routes for the crew transfer vessels to service the turbines along with the number of technicians required for each vessel. The model takes into account multiple vessels, multiple periods (days), multiple Operation & Maintenance (O&M) bases, and multiple wind farms. We develop an algorithm based on the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition method, where a mixed integer linear program is solved for each subset of turbines to generate all feasible routes and maintenance schedules for the vessels for each period. The routes have to consider several constraints such as weather conditions, the availability of vessels, and the number of technicians available at the O&M base. An integer linear program model is then proposed to find the optimal route configuration along with the maintenance schedules that minimise maintenance costs, including travel, technician and penalty costs. The computational experiments show that the proposed optimisation model and solution method find optimal solutions to the problem in reasonable computing times.

Decision Support Tool for Offshore Wind Farm Vessel Routing under Uncertainty

“…The maximum number of turbines in a cluster (η) was limited to four. It was shown by Irawan et al [4] that setting η to four yields, in most cases, answers within 97% of the optimal solutions. Limiting η decreases the computational time significantly.…”

“…As pointed out by Irawan et al [4], decomposing a VRP into outer problem (sometimes called a master problem) and inner problem is a common denominator in recent advances in capacitated VRP solution methods. The former is a problem of assignment of turbines to vessels, while the latter is a problem of ordering turbine visits.…”

“…Irawan et al [4] provided a literature review of solution methods of routing problems in the context of offshore wind turbine maintenance. They propose a solution based on the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition method combined with a mixed-integer linear program (MILP).…”

Scheduling of Maintenance Tasks and Routing of a Joint Vessel Fleet for Multiple Offshore Wind Farms

“…The model only considers vessels that must return to an onshore depot between each time period. Irawan et al [24] presents a similar model but includes technicians and capacities at onshore bases. They solve the problem using a priori column generation.…”

An Approach for Evaluating the Influence of Accessibility on Offshore Wind Power Generation

“…The first area is optimization work on maintenance support and logistic. In [12], an optimal model for offshore maintenance scheduling and vessels routing is proposed, in which multiple wind farms, multiple vessels, multiple periods and multiple Operation & Maintenance (O&M) bases are taken into account. Dalgic et al [13] used a time domain Monte-Carlo simulation approach to achieve the most cost-effective approach to allocate O&M resources as transport vehicles.…”