Offshore Wind Accelerator Issues Two New Tenders

Carbon Trust’s flagship collaborative RD&D programme, the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), has launched two new tender opportunities.

The programme, aimed to reduce the cost of offshore wind, overcome market barriers, develop industry best practice and trigger the development of new industry standardsas invited interested parties to submit a tender for the following projects: Inter-Array Cable Fault Detection, Monitoring and Action; Subsea Cable Design Study

Inter-Array Cable Fault Detection, Monitoring and Action

Call for entries from companies and consortia interested in undertaking a study to evaluate the need for fault detection and monitoring on the array system and how these would work in combination with other systems and site processes to minimise generation down time.

Cable failure in an offshore wind farm (OWF) array system can create significant issues for wind farm operators. As we see the array cable voltage levels and capacity increase as well as technical contingency decrease, through lean design, it is thought that the risk of failure shall only increase.

The OWA also hope to examine potential for online monitoring systems that offer real-time identification of changes in the array system. The ultimate aim of this project is to develop an array system with improved availability and reliability.

The closing date to receive tender submissions is 13:00 BST Thursday 4th July 2019.

Subsea Cable Design Study

Call for entries from companies and consortia interested in undertaking a study looking into improved cable designs for bottom-fixed offshore wind farms (OWF) that are fit-for-purpose and optimised for their operating environments.

The key objective of this study is to evaluate and recommend potential improvements to subsea cable designs for bottom-fixed OWF and develop specifications of possible future cables.

Subsea cables for bottom-fixed OWF are generally optimised for static operating environments. Although sections of these cables are laid in dynamic applications; such as cables laid on the seabed subject to movement from currents, and sections of cable between the seabed and the entry to the offshore substation, monopile or J-tube. Improved cable designs could lead to reduced life-cycle costs due to improved reliability and fewer mechanical failures.

This study will also investigate the technical feasibility of surface-laid subsea cables and develop relevant standards and best practice guidelines for improved cable handling.

The closing date to receive tender submissions is 13:00 BST Thursday 11th July 2019.