Maintenance
The WindFloat® Inspection, Maintenance & Repair (IMR) philosophy offers significant improvements when compared to traditional fixed-bottom offshore wind and other floating technologies.
Inspection and regular maintenance activities are performed at the offshore project site, while any large corrective activities required for wind turbine maintenance may be performed at quayside with the support of typical onshore cranes.
The WindFloat® is designed for production optimization while minimizing operating expenses (OPEX). The WindFloat® portfolio enhanced design offers great stability and optimal accessibility and is compatible with any industry-standard access method.
Inspection
Above water and subsea inspections frequency are determined by Class. The objective of these inspections is to monitor the condition of the platform and accessory systems, enabling designed performance throughout the lifetime of the project.
The WindFloat® portfolio is designed to be inspected using industry-standard methodologies, considering the executability and safety of operations for the personnel involved and the environment.
As an innovative service provider in the floating offshore wind IMR space, Principle Power recognizes the importance of continuous improvement of services for competitive Operations & Maintenance. Such endeavors have motivated Principle Power to join the ATLANTIS Project, where we serve as Industry Advisor for unmanned and autonomous technology solutions for the inspection activities of offshore wind farms.
Find out how we support our customers across the entire lifecycle of their projects.
Preventive and Minor Corrective Maintenance
Preventive and Minor Corrective Maintenance activities are carried out at the offshore site, in a similar manner as for fixed-bottom offshore wind farms. The WindFloat® schedule of preventive maintenance is combined with wind turbine maintenance activities to optimize OPEX.
Digital O&M
Recognizing the value of data in support of decision making, Principle Power offers customers digital solutions to deliver greater performance, predictability, efficient operations, and optimized integration between the floating platform and wind turbine generator systems:
- Logistics decision support modeling
- Digital twin
- Remote diagnosis
- Condition monitoring
Repairs at quayside
Offshore wind turbines could require some large corrective maintenance actions throughout their 20-30 year expected lifespan, to replace up-tower components that exceed the capacity of the onboard crane, such as blades, gearboxes, or generators.
Recognizing that these large correctives must be accounted for in the design basis, Principle Power has developed strategies (including IP) that greatly improve this procedure when compared to the approach in place for traditional fixed-bottom offshore wind and other floating technologies.
WindFloat®'s unique combination of features - including adjustable draft, low-pretension mooring system, and plug-n-play connectors - enables the installation sequence to be reversed and wind turbine large correctives to be performed at quayside. This removes the need to perform heavy lifting offshore and ensures that repair operations can be performed quickly and affordably, with limited mobilization time.
The process is simple:
- The WindFloat® unit is disconnected from the array leveraging Principle Power's patented plug-n-play I-tube and platform mooring connectors.
- The installation sequence is reversed, towing the platform to harbor using a single offshore tug. The platform’s stability minimizes sensitivity to metocean conditions.
- Perform repairs with standard onshore cranes at port, for which many have suitable reach/capacity for turbine installation and repair works. WindFloat®'s adjustable draft allows for repairs in most harbors.
- Tow back to site.
- Reconnect the WindFloat® unit to the array.
Overall, this approach to Inspection, Maintenance & Repair results in simpler, safer, faster, and less expensive procedures.
Let's get your project floating
Contact our expert team to learn about how we can support your floating wind project.
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