Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FloatMastBlue (Offshore Wind Energy Cost Reduction by an Innovative Floating Met Mast Platform)

Teaser

Untapping an ocean of opportunities for the economic activity in the seas, requires cost and risk reduction. As the offshore environment is a quite hostile and dynamic environment for man-made infrastructures, design and economic analysis need to be based upon high quality...

Summary

Untapping an ocean of opportunities for the economic activity in the seas, requires cost and risk reduction. As the offshore environment is a quite hostile and dynamic environment for man-made infrastructures, design and economic analysis need to be based upon high quality site specific data. FloatMast® innovation aims at de-risking both at the engineering design level and at the financial level the projects by lowering the environmental loads and income uncertainties which add up to the economic viability of the projects.
FLOATMAST®, is an innovation measurement construction, aiming at reducing the risk of the wind resource estimation, which defines the OWP’s annual energy production, in a cost effective way. It combines the two current industry solutions by integrating a met mast and a Lidar remote sensing device in a stable floating foundation. The floating foundation is a mini Tension Leg Platform (TLP) which is anchored to the sea bed via wire ropes. The innovative design of the platform allows the collection of best wind resource in a floating foundation, according to the highest industry standards of IEC 61400-12-1 (IEC).
FLOATMAST® aims at disrupting the market of offshore wind resource measurements by lowering the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of OWPs. This will be achieved by: a) providing high quality wind measurements according to the industry’s standards and b) at a much lower cost (about 70%) than the current solution of the fixed met mast.

Work performed

First Period
The project’s first and most immediate work that was performed was to assess the status of the platform (hull and equipment), the anchorage (concrete blocks on deployment site on the sea bed) {WP 1.1} and the environmental status around the sea bed of the deployment site {WP 6.1}. This permitted to validate the need and extent for maintenance and new equipment as well as to proceed to the design and procurement of the upgraded naval, mooring and electromechanical equipment needed to enhance the platform’s performance, safety and quality of measurements, all of which was completed {WP 1.2}. At the same time, wind tunnel experiments conducted by the CRES Institute, confirmed the accuracy of the wind measurement equipment in regards to the platform’s hydrodynamic behavior {WP 2.1}, a pivotal point of interest in relation to the innovation’s commercial purpose. In addition, dissemination actions were performed that involved participations and presentations in workshops and conferences in Europe and the USA as well as presentation in the EIC Innovators’ Summit 2018 in Berlin {WP 4.1} . Most importantly, commercialization actions involved being selected to pitch to potential customers

Second Period
.At first, in this period, the platform was maintained in good operation condition, and several works were performed in order to upgrade further the following systems
• Surveillance cameras
• Communication System (Microphone - Loudspeaker- Siren- Amplifier ) connected
• Led flood lights weatherproof 4pcs
• Wave Radar installation
• Strain Gauges
• Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) installation
• New Foundation for the new Data Acquisition System
• New Foundation for Battery Boxes
With the completion of the above tasks, the Equipment Post-Installation Report was finalized {WP 1.2}.
The core of the FloatMastBlue Project, the deployment procedure, started on 19/6/2019 and completed with the met mast installation on 3/7/2019. With the above, the Work Package 1 completed successfully, and the Project reached a significant milestone, not only for the particular Project, as for the entire Offshore Wind Industry {WP 1.3}.
The Work Packages 2 and 3 were started, as soon as the FloatMast platform was deployed. The first results from the operation are exceptional, as the platform behaves as expected, delivering to the Offshore Wind Industry the high quality wind and environmental measurements. During this 5 month period, we conducted the first analyses (wind data analysis {WP 2.1}, environmental data analysis {WP 2.2} and data platform analysis {WP 2.3}. Also, tasks 2.4 (Third Party Evaluation), 2.5 (New improvements & components optimization) and 2.6 (Regulatory compliance & type certification) were initiated. Subject to weather conditions, our team, , visits FloatMast platform approximetely twice per month, and performs Superstructure and Underwater inspections and maintenance works {WP 3.1, 3.2}.
In addition, dissemination actions were performed that involved participations and presentations in workshops and conferences in Europe. Most importantly, we participated with a stand, in Wind Europe’s Event, the Offshore wind Conference and Exhibition 2019, in Copenhagen, and we presented the FloatMast innovation in the Resource Assessment Session.

Final results

FLOATMAST® is aiming at reducing the cost per KWh of Blue Energy by reducing the risk of renewable energy production in Offshore Wind Parks (OWPs) thus, stimulating the share of renewables in the electricity mix, assisting in the decarbonisation of the energy production and contributing in the battle against climate change. Also, by performing environmental monitoring and met ocean data collection is attributing to the wider Blue Growth Strategy by advancing Marine Knowledge and Understanding of the Marine Environment and Ecosystems. Simultaneously, FLOATMAST® strengthens European Energy independency from imported fuels, promotes jobs creation and contributes massively to the growth potential of the participating companies ETME and STREAMLINED

Website & more info

More info: http://www.floatmast.com.