Offshore Wind Energy and Marine Biodiversity in the North Sea: Life Cycle Impact Assessment for Benthic Communities

Large-scale offshore wind energy developments represent a major player in the energy transition but are likely to have (negative or positive) impacts on marine biodiversity. Wind turbine foundations and sour protection often replace soft sediment with hard substrates, creating artificial reefs for sessile dwellers. Offshore wind farm (OWF)...

Evaluating technical and financial factors for commercialising floating offshore wind: A stakeholder analysis

Recently, floating wind has enjoyed much public and governmental attention and is commonly identified as a crucial next step on the route to net zero targets for many countries. However, there is currently a large gap between the scale and readiness-level of devices in the water and the end-of- the-decade aspirational targets of many governments...

Effect of leading edge erosion on wind turbine aerodynamics

Wind turbines are being installed in a wide array of offshore locations and are exposed to environmental condition during their operational lifetime. Rain, hailstones and accumulation of dust and insects can lead to turbine blades being eroded and contaminated. In this study, the effect of leading edge erosion on wind turbine blade performance...

Future material requirements for global sustainable offshore wind energy development

Offshore wind energy (OWE) is a cornerstone of future clean energy development. Yet, research into global OWE material demand has generally been limited to few materials and/or low technological resolution. In this study, we assess the primary raw material demand and secondary material supply of global OWE. It includes a wide assortment of...

Large-scale CO2 transport and storage infrastructure development and cost estimation in the Netherlands offshore

A plan was developed for large-scale transport and storage of CO2, inspired by the measures in The Netherlands Climate Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. The main focus was on reduction of CO2 emissions captured from large industrial sources in the Rotterdam harbour area (Rijnmond region). CO2 storage potential is...

SPOWTT: Improving the safety and productivity of offshore wind technician transit

This paper describes the SPOWTT project. The intention of this project was to understand how sailing by crew transfer vessel (CTVs) to offshore wind farms affects the mental and physical wellbeing of individuals on board. The focus was on quantifying this impact, understanding the key drivers, with an aim to ensuring personnel can arrive to the...

An integration of human factors into quantitative risk analysis using Bayesian Belief Networks towards developing a ‘QRA+’

Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) is a standard tool in some high-risk industries (such as the on- and offshore exploration and production and chemical industry). Presently, existing knowledge concerning human error likelihood and human reliability assessment is insufficiently represented in QRAs. In this paper we attempt to implement the...

High ductility steels for impact resistance: Experimental results

Increasing resistance against impact, either from other ships, floating objects or icebergs, will make shipping safer. Lean Duplex, which is in the stainless steel family, has high strength, and corrosion resistance. Lean Duplex is investigated focusing on its crash resistance in raking scenarios as part of an ongoing project. Material...

Multiphase flow induced forces on bend structures

Multiphase conditions can lead to high vibration in flexible pipe systems due to high dynamic flow induced forces. To better model the dynamic forces, large scale 6” air-water, near-atmospheric experiments have been done with different bend radii and upstream configurations. This paper gives an overview of the obtained results with respect to...

The swarms approach to integration of underwater and overwater communication sub-networks and integration of heterogeneous underwater communication systems

The management of a heterogeneous mix of underwater vehicles needs a robust and reliable communication network, able to connect the remote command and control station (typically ashore or on board of a support ship) with nodes and vehicles in the deep sea. on the basis of this scenario, the infrastructure shall satisfy requirements such as:...

Optical turbulence in the coastal area over False Bay /South Africa: Comparison of measurements and modeling results

The atmospheric influence on wave propagation was investigated during the First European South African Transmission ExpeRiment from June 2015 to February 2016. The focus in this article was set on optical turbulence, the main atmospheric factor affecting the position and strength of Laser beams, the performance of electro-optical systems and...

Underwater sound radiation from subsea factories

In the oil & gas industry there is a trend towards more subsea activities such as the processing of the Oil and Gas in so-called 'subsea factories'. Regulations aimed at managing the impact of underwater sound on marine life are being put in place by different nations. Many offshore operations require an assessment of the potential impact of...

Results of real-time production optimization of a maturing North Sea gas asset with production constraints

Operating maturing assets poses increasingly complex challenges to operators. Meeting hourly or daily production targets becomes more difficult when wells are more often shut in for e.g. water washes (against salt deposition) or solvent jobs (at asphaltenes deposition). Declining reservoir pressure in turn results in less margin to compensate...

Downhole multiphase metering in wells by means of soft-sensing

Multiphase flow meters are indispensable tools for achieving optimal operation and control of wells as these meters deliver real-time information about their performance. For example, multiphase flow meters located downhole can improve the production of multilateral and multizone wells by timely allocating the zone where a gas or water cone...