Industrial

Overview: The early-stage researchers and a few principal investigators participated in a workshop organized by MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands) in Wageningen. The team received training on the topics of design considerations for floating offshore wind, model testing techniques, first- and second-order wave loads, and numerical modelling. The researchers also had the chance to prepare and realize their own experiment in MARIN’s concept basin. Duration: 2 days (30-31 May 2022)

Overview: The training on risk considerations did not entirely took place as planned. However, our early-stage researchers had the opportunity to visit the Kincardine floating wind farm, off the coast of Scotland, thanks to ORE Catapult and their partner Flotation Energy. A brief training session has been organised on the boat on the installation process, maintenance operations and the commercial viability of developing one of the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm in the world, hence matters on the technical, commercial, and environmental ethics challenges from concept to realisation have been addressed. Despite not taking place as a regular training session, OREC has shared their methodology for risk management of FOWTs, the associated risk registers, and a methodology for technology assessment process during consortium meetings with the ESRs. Some ESRs have applied these methods to different FOWT designs.

Overview: TU Delft organized a workshop about the design and manufacturing of wind turbine blades. The goal was to provide a strong practical understanding of the context that underpins wind blade innovation, including an infusion lecture. The ESRs have been divided into teams and asked to design a wind turbine blade taking into account how the blade will be manufactured and tested. They have used CFD/FEA software to design their blades and the results have been baselined against actual blades from industry. The event included a short overview of the processes associated with aerospace manufacturing and testing, and opportunities for cross-learning between sectors has been discussed and some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Finally, there was a demonstration of the equipment used to manufacture and test blades at the composites lab located in the aircraft hall on the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft.