Floating wind joint industry partnership for export cables and asset integrity
The Carbon Trust-led Floating Wind Joint Industry Partnership has begun two new studies to investigate critical issues for large scale floating wind farms.
Commissioned by the Scottish Government and twelve industry partners – EnBW, ENGIE, Eolfi, E.ON, Iberdrola, innogy, Kyuden Mirai, Ørsted, Shell, Statoil, Vattenfall, and Wpd Offshore – the JIP will be supporting the development of high voltage dynamic cables and outlining monitoring and inspection requirements for commercial floating wind power projects.
BPP Cables will lead the study on dynamic export cables, which has been identified as a potential bottleneck for commercial deployments. While lower voltage dynamic inter-array cables (~22-66kV) are readily available, there is a notable gap in the market for suitable high voltage dynamic cables for export purposes (~130-250kV) to enable efficient transmission of power back to shore.
In parallel, Oceaneering will deliver a study to investigate monitoring and inspection requirements for floating wind farms. The large number of components in commercial deployments, including hulls, mooring lines, anchors, and cabling, could create challenges for operators to cost effectively monitor and inspect their assets.
Rhodri James, Manager at the Carbon Trust, said: “The lack of available dynamic export cables is currently a key technical and commercial risk for floating wind projects and we are hopeful of playing an important role in stimulating the market to develop solutions for the industry. Monitoring and inspection also becomes increasingly important in large scale deployments and we again hope to play a role in both ensuring that current standards and guidelines are fit for purpose, whilst identifying novel technologies that can reduce operations and maintenance costs.”
The JIP launched two additional projects earlier this month, focussing on heavy lift offshore operations and the impact of larger turbines on floating wind structures.
Further information on the Carbon Trust’s Floating Wind Joint Industry Project: https://www.carbontrust.com/offshore-wind/floating/floating-wind-jip/
By Jake Frith
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