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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Floating offshore wind research focuses on improving technology and safety
3/7/2024
10 min read
Feature
Faced with a dynamic motion environment, floating offshore wind turbines experience technical and operational challenges that differ significantly from static offshore oil and gas structures. To improve our understanding of these issues, research and testing has begun at a new Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult research centre in Aberdeen. Meanwhile, Energy Institute partner G+, in collaboration with leading international operators and OEMs, is developing guides and standards to help make floating offshore wind safer. New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis reports.
Despite oil and gas’ long-established track record of developing both fixed and floating offshore platforms, there is still much to learn to overcome the challenges posed to new and emerging floating offshore wind turbine operations.
Also, the latest report by global offshore health and safety organisation G+ highlighted a 39% increase in offshore wind activity in 2023 to a record 61.9 million hours. However, there was concern at the 1,679 incidents reported, a 94% increase from 2022.
Testing and validation of offshore wind floating structures is vital to de-risk operations in challenging and often remote offshore operations. The new national Floating Wind Innovation Centre (FLOWIC) offers scaled-down physical tests, a simulator, virtual reality and digital test facilities.