Heavy lifting of electrical equipment in dynamic offshore weather conditionsCopy Link

The OWiX challenge competition, delivered by the KTN, is supporting a wind farm owner (the Challenger) to identify innovative solutions to its innovation challenges. The winning business(es) in this competition will be given a commercial opportunity to deliver their solution, and receive support from the KTN and the wider InnovateUK network.

Background

During operation of an offshore wind turbine, medium sized components such as transformers and converters at the base of the tower may need to be replaced. Currently in the UK there is no commercially viable solution for lifting these components up to the base of the tower without the use of a large jack-up vessel, which could cost £50-150,000 per day. The challenger is seeking solutions that can undertake a stable lifting operation without the use of a large jack-up vessel.

Whilst not limiting the technologies from solution providers, it is expected that solutions would consider innovations from some of the following areas:

• Self-lifting and heavy-lifting technology
• Robotics and mechatronics
• Naval architecture
• Aerospace engineering and manufacturing
• Heavy engineering and manufacturing
• Smart autonomous systems
• High accuracy positioning systems
• Large air carriers
• Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
• Artificial intelligence
• Existing O&M service providers with new ideas
• Collaborations between service and technology providers

To meet the desired timescale and risks, it is preferred that the proposed solution, or the key part(s) of the solution, has been proven in other sectors.

Solution Requirements

Functional Requirements

• Solutions should be capable of supporting the change-out of heavy electrical equipment from the tower base. Specifically, complete transformer assemblies, without the use of a Jack-Up vessel
• Ideally a single solution would be capable of replacing components of different sizes and weights
• Solutions should be deployed in dynamic weather conditions offshore, up to a distance of 50km from shore and in water depths of up to 50m
• Solutions must be deployed safely and ideally with reduced human intervention
• The solution is ONLY required to manage the lift and transfer of unserviceable components from specified locations. The solution does not need to position or prepare the components ready for the lift. This will be handled by the Challenger. Also, all handling of the transformer before transport from, and after transport to, the specified points, will be managed by the Challenger
• Solutions must align to UK offshore and marine operational, health and safety statutory standards
• The initial market for this solution is the UK and as such, the HSE ought to have assessed the approach (or something similar to the final solution) and shown some confidence in its potential future certification

Technical characteristics

• Solutions must be capable of lifting and removal and replacement of objects:
• With a mass of around 7000Kg
• To a height of 20-25m above sea level
• Up to 3.2m in length x 0.81m in width and 2.6m in height
• Solutions must be capable of stabilising the mass at the tower base and manoeuvring it approximately 2-3 meters horizontally inside the tower door

Deployment timescale

• Validation of solution: within 6 months
• Field trials: within 1 year of competition win

Cost requirement and market opportunity

• New solutions must offer a lower cost of component replacement than currently achieved by the industry
• The challenger currently has one changeout per year to undertake in the foreseeable future but other opportunities for lifting other components or with other offshore wind industry customers are foreseen
• As of 2017, there were 4,872 offshore wind turbines installed globally. The current global estimated component replacement market for transformers only is estimated to be in the region of 4-5 per year for Transformer replacements, assuming a P80 major failure (replacement) rate of 0.04% per turbine per year

Eligibility and assessment criteria

Entrants to this competition must be:

• Established businesses, startups, SMEs or individual entrepreneurs
• UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base

Applications will be assessed on:

• Relevance to the topic
• Innovative nature of the subject
• Coherence of the proposed business model
• Feasibility/ economic viability
• Development potential
• Maturity of project/solution
• Ability to launch project quickly/Ease of implementation
• Price/quality ratio
• Suitability for the UK and European Market

IP and potential commercial route

• Existing background IP associated with a potential solution will remain with Solution Provider(s). Where any new IP generation is envisaged, it will be subject to the mutual IP agreement of the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenge Owner.
• Any commercial deployment of transferred solution or newly developed solution, through licensing, joint venture, partnership or direct investment, will be subject to the commercial agreement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenge Owner.
• Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the Solution Provider(s) and Innovation Challenge Owner.
• Innovate UK and KTN do not take any share of IP ownership or enter into commercial venture through the OWiX programme.