Digitalisation and data monitoring dominating developments in floating offshore wind
Building floating offshore wind farms in deep, stormy waters is incredibly challenging.
“Digitalisation is the best way to meet all of these challenges,” says Jan Butle Ulvin, Director of Offshore Wind at Glamox.
Harnessing the power of digitalisation and data monitoring is crucial, and Norwegian companies have already made great strides.
Glamox is digitalising offshore lighting, providing operators with the right light, in the right place, at the right time.
Its smart lighting solutions are reducing costs and increasing sustainability. The amount of lighting needed at a wind farm is far greater than you might imagine.
A typical offshore wind project has 5 000 or more lights.
Glamox’s cloud-based IoT solution gives operators complete control and cuts energy use by as much as 90 per cent.
"The result is a smart, connected and energy-efficient lighting solution,” says Jan Buttle-Ulvin, Director of Offshore Wind at Glamox Group.
A large number of operations take place at wind farms at any given time. SCADA+ from Origo Solutions provides a complete overview of ongoing operations in a single interface.
“I call it a vacuum cleaner of data. It vacuums all the other subsystems, categorises all the data, and systemises it into one interface,” says Rune Reinersten, COO of Origo Solutions.
SCADA+ is flexible, scalable and suitable for use at all types of wind farms – floating, bottom-fixed and land-based – as well as for other types of renewable energy production.
There are a lot of other challenges that need solving as well, including coexistence with wildlife.
Spoor’s AI technology tracks and detects birds near wind farms.
Spoor’s digital dashboard provides an overview of a wind farm’s biodiversity impact.
This includes data such as the number of birds, collisions over time and fluctuations in the presence of populations.
The data is crucial to compliance and impact reporting to the authorities. The AI technology gathers data and improves monitoring algorithms continuously.
“Humans in a boat or plane can only monitor bird activity for a short time due to weather, accessibility and labour rules. While a consultant can work for a few days, our technology can be out there continuously for years at a time. This increases the data-gathering window a hundredfold.”
– Ask Helseth, CEO and co-founder of Spoor
By automating data collection, Spoor avoids the costly downsides of human observation.
It’s not only what happens in the air that needs to be considered. The same applies under water.
SUBC3D has designed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for deep sea inspection.
The company is now developing a specialised subsea monitoring system for FOW.
Data from the ROV is transferred to a 3D model and can be used to monitor subsea cables, structures, anchoring and wildlife at wind farms.
“The benefit of having a resident unit at each turbine lets operators conduct subsea surveys every day as opposed to as needed. The data can be used to resolve an issue before it becomes a serious one.”
– Einar Magnus Mjåtvedt-Fiskaaen, CTO of SUBC3D