Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2011)

A boat with suspension, a giant roboticarm and a vessel resembling a seahorse are just three of the innovative concepts shortlisted by the Carbon Trust as part of a competition to solve the problem of transferring engineers and equipmentsafely on to wind turbines as far as 300km offshore in wave heights up to around three meters. The project aims to improve the economics of offshore wind by keeping turbines generating electric- ity in the harshest sea conditions to in-crease revenues by as much as £3bn for the next generation of the UK?s offshore wind farms. Through its Offshore Wind Accelerator program, the Carbon Trust is an industry collaboration of eight UK wind farm de- velopers - E.ON, DONG Energy, Main- stream Renewable Power, RWE Innogy, ScottishPower Renewables, SSE Renew- ables, Statkraft and Statoil ? to reduce thecosts of offshore wind. A technically rigorous process was used by the co-funded industry collabo-ration to select 13 designs from 450 sub-missions. The technical merit of these 13 concepts suggests they have the best chances of successfully driving down cost. Today?s offshore wind farms are typically less than 25km offshore in rela- tively benign sea conditions, and consist of up to 100 turbines. Maintenance ispossible in boats about 90% of the timewhen wave heights are up to about 1.5m. The new ?round three? offshore wind projects will be as far as 300km offshore in rougher sea conditions, and may con-sist of as many as 2,500 turbines. At these sites, today?s access systems would only allow transfers about 210 days a year. The aim of the competition is to find con- cepts that can be commercialized to make transfers possible for a minimum of 300days a year. Among the 13 designs short- listed are a giant robotic arm for transfer- ring engineers and equipment to theturbine base; a boat that uses suspensioninspired by Paris Dakar-winning rally cars to remain stable for the transfer; a?seahorse? vessel consisting of a towering keel that minimizes movements in the ocean swell; and a giant harbor mothership that would act as a base for engi- neers for weeks on end, dispatchingsmaller daughter craft to access the tur- bines. Each of the successful applicantsto the competition will benefit from fund- ing of up to £100,000 to support the de-sign and development of their concept, as well as technical support from the eightdevelopers in the Offshore Wind Accel- erator. The competition has selected the following thirteen designs, in three cate- gories, to receive funding: Transfer Systems To transfer personnel and equipment from vessel to turbine, potentially with motion-compensationAutobrow, South Boats MOTS, Momac GmBH FEATURE MARINE DESIGNDesign Challenge Devising the Best Way to Reach North Sea Wind Turbines A Ship on Rally Car Suspension could help Solve £3bn Challenge to Access Offshore Wind Turbines The Fjellstrand WindServer The ?Z Port? Design The Nauticraft vessel design.54Maritime Reporter & Engineering NewsMR Oct.11 # 7 (50-56):MR Template 10/7/2011 2:36 PM Page 54