Active heave compensation of floating wind turbine installation using a catamaran construction vessel

The application of floating wind turbines is limited by the high cost that increases with the water depth. Offshore installation and maintenance continue to consume a high percentage of the project budget. To improve the installation efficiency of the floating offshore wind turbine, a novel concept is proposed by the SFI MOVE project. Several wind turbine superstructure components are preassembled onshore and carried to the installation site by a catamaran construction vessel. Each assembly can then be installed using only one lift, and the concept is less sensitive to weather conditions. In this paper, a control algorithm of the proposed hydraulic active heave compensator system is developed using singular perturbation theory to cancel the relative motion between the spar top and gripped preassembly bottom. Closed-loop stability is proven, and the simulation results show that the installation efficiency is improved with an increase in the acceptable weather conditions.

Automated summary

The application of floating wind turbines is limited by high costs and budget consumption, but efficiency can be improved by preassembling components onshore and using a catamaran vessel for installation. The proposed hydraulic active heave compensator system has proven closed-loop stability and simulation results show improved installation efficiency with increased acceptable weather conditions.