Fugro winner in Carbon Trust’s Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition

The eight winning innovations will receive a share of GBP 1 million prize fund from the Scottish Government, and the opportunity to consult on their innovations with the 14 leading offshore wind developers represented on the Floating Wind Joint Industry Project (JIP), which is managed by the Carbon Trust.

The competition was designed to address four key industry challenge areas identified in Phase One of the Carbon Trust’s Floating Wind JIP: monitoring and inspection, mooring systems, heavy lift maintenance, and tow-to-port maintenance.

Fugro’s and its consortium partners’ objective is to develop cost-effective condition monitoring software that characterises the condition of mooring lines of floating wind turbine assets in respect of wear, corrosion and fatigue. Reducing and/or eliminating the requirement for visual inspection by remotely operated vehicles and divers will reduce costs and offshore health and safety exposure.

Fugro project manager Dr Stuart Killbourn said, “We are delighted to have won this technology development grant from the Carbon Trust and the Scottish Government. We are looking forward to developing a transformative condition monitoring software package for floating structure mooring lines, which will significantly reduce the need for personnel and vessel activities offshore. This is a key enabler towards the deployment of floating wind turbines in Scottish waters and the generation of clean renewable energy to meet the nation’s needs.”