UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE - Wind Energy Network

INDUSTRY NEWS
Turbine Access System (TAS) wins further Carbon Trust funding
Houlder and BMT Nigel Gee have
announced that their jointly developed
Turbine Access System (TAS) has been
awarded additional funding by the
Carbon Trust under the Offshore Wind
Accelerator – Access programme.
The additional backing will be used
to develop an integrated bow roller
mechanism to further enhance its
operability as a safe, reliable and
predictable transfer platform.
Innovative design
The hydraulically damped rollers will allow
the vessel to push up to the boat landing
on the turbine foundation structure in
the conventional manner
and the integral damping
system will reduce and
control the vessel motion
thereby eliminating the
sudden movements of the
vessel, which can occur
with conventional fender
systems.
The development of the
integrated bow roller unit
will also enable shipbuilders
to rapidly install TAS for both new build
and retrofit Windfarm Support Vessels.
Delight
John Bonafoux, Managing Director of
BMT Nigel Gee, commented: “The whole
TAS team is delighted to have secured
this support from the Carbon Trust,
especially as it comes hot on the heels
of our successful trials at Rhyl Flats
offshore windfarm” He went on to say:
“The patented TAS system has benefitted
from significant development effort by
both companies and interest is now being
shown by a wide variety of operators”.
BMT Nigel Gee
www.bmtng.com
Houlder
www.houlderltd.com
ZephIR 300
approved by the
Energy research
Centre for the
Netherlands
The Energy research Centre for the
Netherlands (ECN) has completed
a 12 month offshore measurement
campaign with the novel ZephIR
300 system as part of a 4 year
campaign within the Dutch project
“Meteorological Research Wind at
Sea” where the ZephIR has been
compared against the 108 metre Met
Mast Ijmuiden (MMIJM) at the ECN
Wind Turbine test facility EWTW.
Correlation
During a 60 week continuous period
availability of the ZephIR was measured
at over 98%, with the only period of
unavailability being attributed to a mast
power supply failure from which the
ZephIR was being powered.
Correlations during the measurement
period were excellent and as such data
has been delivered to the wind energy
industry on behalf of the Netherlands
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture
and Innovation. ECN’s initial conclusion is
that ZephIR can be considered as a valid
stand-alone system for wind resource
assessments, especially given the industry’s
tendency towards higher hub heights.
Technology
The core technology behind
ZephIR – continuous wave
lidar – allows for very low
measurements down to just
10 metres from installed level,
essential on offshore platforms,
such as this installation, which
are already raised well above
sea level.
Minimising the deck space
required by the remote sensing
device in this deployment
took advantage of one of the
many benefits of continuous wave lidar.
With up to 50 samples taken from the
full 360 degree scan, losing just a few
samples where the scan intercepts the
structure, has no adverse effect on the
data gathered.
Commenting on the project, ECN’s Wind
Energy Co-ordinator of Experiments &
Measurements, Henk Oostrum noted:
“ZephIR is very capable of providing
high quality, 10 minute average wind
speed and direction data at all heights
well above traditional tall mast heights.
Correlation is excellent to our IEC
compliant mast and site. ZephIR
can therefore be considered, in our
initial opinion, to be used in a standalone
application for wind resource
measurements.”
Accreditation
Measurements at the EWTW and MMIJM
are in accordance with IEC 61400-12. All
masts are equipped with Thies class 1 cup
Courtesy of ECN
anemometers and wind vanes as well as
WindSensor p2456a cup anemometers.
All calibrations are performed in a
MEASNET approved wind tunnel and are
covered by ISO 17025 ILAC accreditation.
On the announcement, Ian Locker, MD
at ZephIR Ltd. commented: “This is an
exciting development in the ZephIR
programme – we never imagined that
we would actually be operating within
a met mast structure. The work that
ECN has done independently, and now
publicly, verifies not only the excellent
core performance of ZephIR compared to
a mast but also the ability to be deployed
in this unique way. In both onshore
and offshore applications, ZephIR has
been proven to operate in a stand-alone
manner providing finance-grade wind
measurements for the progression of
wind farm development and on-going
performance analysis and optimisation.”
Natural Power
www.zephirlidar.com
08
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk