Page 20 - North American Clean Energy January February 2014

wind power

No Substitute for Experience

Learning from offshore wind construction challenges

By Joanna de Montgros & Chris Elkinton

“he only source of knowledge is experience.”
~Albert Einstein

When it comes to constructing ofshore wind farms, there’s no substitute for hands-on experience. With less impact on real
estate and undeveloped land, along with more powerful, stronger winds, ofshore wind can play an important role in helping

to meet the high electricity demands of heavily populated coastal areas—making it an appealing option for developers.

Ofshore wind farm engineering is a signiicant challenge, particularly with the required produces enough clean electricity each year to meet the needs of approximately 40,000 UK
foundations and larger turbines than are typically installed onshore. he time, manpower, homes.
and equipment required for the ofshore transportation and installation of dozens of ‘Learning by doing’ on projects like North Hoyle has built up a substantial body of
500-foot wind turbines must be carefully orchestrated, so as to minimize the need for expertise in the ofshore wind community, along with an understanding of what works

expensive vessels and to maintain a safe working environment.
and what doesn’t. And, these lessons are clearly being learned. Today, there are nearly 60
Although it’s hardly surprising that some ofshore wind farms—particularly those built ofshore wind farms up-and-running, construction horror stories are far less common, and
in the early years—inlicted signiicant inancial pain during their construction, it’s vital inanciers are more willing to put capital at risk during the construction phase.
that the industry learns from these experiences.

One example is North Hoyle, one of the world’s irst commercial-scale ofshore wind Laying the groundwork
farms, which was commissioned about 10 years ago in the UK. Important lessons
Experience suggests that a majority of problems that arise in ofshore construction can
were learned on this project, that were typical of the early stages of ofshore wind be prevented. he key, as in most challenges, is in properly carrying out the upfront
construction—and which have contributed to the general experience and development of groundwork—such as the environmental testing, permitting, and project development

this sector.
and planning. One case-in-point involved an ofshore project that sufered a three-month
delay due to problems with the collection and analysis of soil data. he delay meant this
Lessons from North Hoyle
project chartered two more jack-ups’ vessels than were initially planned. he last turbine
North Hoyle’s construction encountered challenges early on. To start, there were vessel was inally erected at the end of the summer weather window, pushing commissioning

problems when the newly built Resolution (the irst self-elevating turbine-installation work into the more diicult weather of the winter season. In the end, this ofshore project
vessel in the world) was delayed in delivery. Other vessels had to be chartered to install couldn’t be handed over to the operations team until the following year.
most of the turbines at this site. he second problem was a law in the J-tube design, which According to one of the engineers on the project, “If we’d used more experienced
posed diiculties for marine cable installation.
teams in specifying, managing, and undertaking the soil investigation work, the logistics

However, North Hoyle was a pioneering project and technical challenges were to be would have been far simpler.” He adds: “he hard lesson we learned is that it’s far easier
expected. he fact that this project is still operating smoothly 10 years on is proof that and less costly to identify and mitigate risks early on, rather than to ire ight during the
construction problems can be overcome. he project remains fully operational, and
construction phase.”

20 nacleanenergy.com
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014