A clear case for condition based maintenance

This is the view of author Alexander Hill, whose role is in UK Energy Business Development at Southampton based Critical Software Technologies Ltd.

If any further incentive were needed, a new report by the Low Carbon Innovation Coordination Group (LCICG) suggests that the UK is well placed to capture 15% of this global market, which could be worth up to £4bn to the country’s economy.

This remains to be seen as marine energy, namely wave, tidal and wind power, is more expensive to produce than energy from nuclear and fossil fuel powered stations, but it could be made more efficient and streamlined by using up to date technologies. Surely if marine energy becomes cheaper to produce then more companies will start realising its business potential?

One area that needs to be streamlined and improved, which is vital to the operation of all marine energy facilities, is the technology deployed to monitor the structural health of critical equipment, down to the level of, for example, dynamic load bearing components in wave generators. This kind of equipment is constantly exposed to the elements and isn’t always easily accessible. There is a clear case for condition based maintenance based on continuous, remote structural health monitoring software that will identify problems quickly.

Currently the marine energy industry is still very immature, with firms depending on primitive technological interfaces and software that quite frankly are from the dark ages. There are few systems that warn of potential problems, so that they may be mitigated before they cause any severe disruption. Rather, systems tend to be reactive, alerting a team too late when hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage has already been caused and systems have failed. Such failures can be catastrophic and could easily cost millions in parts, access and downtime.

Critical Software is working on the Poseidon prototype, a floating power plant situated off the coast of Lolland in Denmark that captures both wave and wind energy. Critical’s systems allow the team to adopt a proactive approach towards monitoring the condition and structural health of the plant. These systems embody new structural health monitoring, command and control solutions derived from Critical’s work in the aerospace industry. They provide early warning of potential problems so they can be resolved before they cause severe disruption or damage.

Operation, maintenance and survivability are key issues when working offshore and a traditional, simplistic approach to monitoring and maintaining the health of critical equipment and software is simply not good enough. If more organisations take a similarly proactive approach to monitoring the health of their offshore marine plants as the Poseidon team has done then the UK will not only benefit from a more robust energy generating capacity but will be better placed to take a chunk of the £4bn marine energy sector pot.