A small but fast-growing subset of the offshore wind sector are floating offshore wind turbines. These floating turbines are tethered to the seabed by catenary or taught mooring lines, rather than on fixed foundations. The floating offshore wind sector’s worldwide installed capacity currently sits at about 100MW. While that doesn’t yet measure up to the 35GW of fixed offshore wind in operations, its current project pipeline includes an impressive 30GW to be installed by 2030.
Despite this growing industry confidence, there are still hurdles to overcome. Currently, there is no uniform regulatory framework for the industry, with local regulations varying widely from country to country. Certification of the wind farm is usually required by the Project Developers and insurers, but National Authorities usually have additional requirements concerning environmental protection, health and safety, and regulatory controls coming from the Labour or Construction Codes.
While we await dedicated requirements from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), floating wind farm operators are working closely with Classification Societies. Project de-risking and certification has become standard.
In this context, Classification Societies such as Bureau Veritas continue to evaluate new designs and publish technical standards to support the floating offshore wind sector. By providing key certification services for offshore wind farms, and guiding clients through complex regulatory frameworks, Classification Societies are helping propel the industry forward.
Reflecting on these considerations, this paper will firstly explain the Project Certification approach currently applied to floating wind farms. Project certification can be divided into two main phases:
- Design, including verification of the project developer’s site conditions assessment, reviewing the basis of the project design to ensure appropriate applicable standards and norms and sound methodologies, and examining the site-specific loads, as well as the entire wind turbine design for conformity with the design basis.
- Construction, installation and commissioning, to ensure that these operations are carried out in full respect of manuals, procedures and established safety standards.
The second part of the paper will be dedicated to the potential of Classification, as a relevant
alternative to Project Certification:
Floaters and moorings are marine components installed in national waters. Classification societies have a long experience in Classing such units for the offshore O&G sector. They have been working closely with Flag Administrations to adapt programs to their requirements and they have experience in developing standards. Because of this, they already have standards and rules in place that can be used to assess conformity of floaters and moorings to ensure floating wind turbines’ safety.
Differences between Project Certification and Classification will be explained, and the benefits of Classification described.
