Competition looks at access to wind farms in stormy weather

The ultimate aim is to improve the economics of offshore wind and several potential solutions have now been shortlisted by the Offshore Wind Accelerator programme, which oversees the project.

Each turbine in an offshore wind farm requires an average of four visits a year for routine maintenance, as well as unexpected downtime to replace components.

‘That might not sound like very much, but if you consider a wind farm with 400 turbines out there, then you are busy all year round,’ said Jan Matthiesen, manager of the Accelerator programme.

During downtime, the turbines are in an idle state, where the blades are turned out of the wind and the brakes are applied. ‘It essentially just sits there and waits to be fixed, which is costing you money,’ Matthiesen said.

Maintenance vessels are then launched from shore, that is, provided waves don’t exceed around 1.5m in height. This rarely happens with current farms, which are typically less than 25km offshore, but the next generation could be as far as 300km out with thousands of turbines, presenting greater challenges.