Researchers look for new solutions to wind off Norway

“We know a lot about land-based windmills and something about fixed-bottom wind turbines at sea, but very little about turbines,” said Geir Grasmo, Professor at the University of Agder (UiA). floating wind turbine”.

Grasmo leads UiA’s technology research team for offshore wind and the Center for Research-Based Innovation Offshore Mechatronics.

“We don’t have a good answer on how to make the best use of offshore wind and how we can design, build, operate, maintain, and manage offshore fields in hard condition“Gsmo said.

Researchers working in the field of mechatronics often combine different disciplines, including mechanics and electronics, computer technology, IT, and artificial intelligence.

By combining several fields, they can develop advanced monitoring and control systems. They can remotely control robots, drones, cranes and underwater ships. The researchers could also develop systems to monitor and control the operation of offshore wind turbines from land.

UiA researchers have extensive experience in developing offshore cranes, mechanical solutions and control systems for use on ships and oil rigs in the North Sea. This expertise has been built over decades in partnership with GCE NODE, an international ocean technology and supply industry cluster in Agder.

This expertise and experience gives us an advantage as we are currently contributing to the development of Norway’s offshore wind industry in a variety of sectors, says Grasmo.

Immature technology

Industry and researchers agree that offshore wind is a fairly immature technology in Norway.

“Windmills developed to be placed on land were placed at sea in the early days of the offshore wind industry. Windmills stand on poles, and the stakes are fixed to the seabed. Windmills such can be found in shallow water near Copenhagen,” said Grasmo.

According to Grasmo, there are still challenges involved in streamlining the installation and operation of fixed bottom facilities, especially in rough seas like ours.

“We need more research on floating wind farms in areas with water depths greater than 50–60 meters,” he said.

The industry in Norway is looking to develop the value chain for both the permanent bottom wind farms, which will dominate the Norwegian industry, and also offshore floating wind, for which we have the prerequisites to competently. So do researchers.

According to the government, Norway will become a leader in offshore wind power. The goal is to allocate sites that can generate up to 30 GW of capacity by 2040, which is about 75% of the capacity in Norway’s electricity system today.

But offshore wind is still in its infancy in this country.

At the end of November 2022, the first floating wind farm in the North Sea opened and Equinor’s Hywind Tampen commenced operations. power production. The wind farm consists of 11 wind turbines placed on floating platforms. The platforms are called buoys and are anchored to the seabed.

Optimizing energy production

“The purpose of windmills is to produce energy. We are studying how they can produce as much electricity as possible, individually and collectively in offshore wind farm“Gsmo said.

No one knows the answer to what is the optimal wind turbine and wind farm. But it is this optimization that the researchers are working on.

Here are some of the issues that engineers at UiA are working on:

• how to build industry and infrastructure between land and offshore wind farms
• What materials are most suitable and sustainable for wind turbines, flotation devices, and vehicles for generating and transporting electricity?
• how to optimize energy production in generators and wind farms
• How to adapt the construction of power units such as power converters for powerful offshore use
• How to automate, control and monitor offshore wind farms
• how to measure wind conditions and place floats and wind turbines to optimize power production
• how to connect offshore wind projects with other offshore production, such as hydrogen and ammonia production
• how to develop and use digital, artificial intelligence and ICT solutions for management wind farms
• how to develop digital solutions to control and monitor individual turbines and entire windmill fields while connecting power from the field to the onshore grid and producing electricity on land

Find the right wind conditions

A typical question that researchers try to answer is how many turbines can be placed on a buoy and how close together the buoys can be in a field to minimize disruption. paragraph.

“The aim is to minimize the hint of all wind turbines, including when they are on flotation devices,” says Grasmo.

As on land, solutions can vary from one wind farm to another.

“With different migrations, we can tailor fields to ensure maximum utilization. We do this with advanced data tools. We seek to tailor each plant individually. together so that the entire school functions as well as possible,” Grasmo said.

Long life in harsh environments

Offshore wind turbines must stand on foundations or floats in the sea in all kinds of weather. Weather and wind conditions are one of the many distinct areas of study concerned with energy production. Constructions must withstand great stress. Salt water corrodes equipment and corrosion will always be a challenge.

“That’s why it’s important to study everything from the use of different materials to the construction wind turbines and floats for moorings, power converters and other installations and devices,” said Grasmo.

He stressed that it is important to study the health, environmental and safety and climate consequences.

“A wind farm in Norwegian waters must be sustainable in the best possible way for a long life in harsh and demanding environments,” says Grasmo.

UiA collaborates with multiple parties within Agder to develop the offshore wind industry. The group includes regional initiative Agder, Fremtidens Havvind; Future Materials Norwegian Catapult Center; NORCE research institute; and the Mechatronic Innovation Lab at UiA.

“We will specifically support the development of the supply industry as well as the infrastructure and supply chains that must be built to contribute to a national initiative to develop a sustainable economy and financially sound”. Seabreeze industry,” Grasmo said.

Provided by Agder . University