The EU is actively promoting Europe’s transition to a low-carbon society and is dedicating huge efforts in reaching a real clean energy transition. Although in the last years there is a substantial increase of the Wind Energy power capacity across the EU, there is still a long way to achieve the current 2030 target of at least 32% for the renewable energy share consumed in the EU, and the even more ambitious 40-45% target by 2030 recently proposed by the European Institutions. Offshore Wind Energy demands advanced Operation & Maintenance (O&M) solutions to significantly improve the return of investment (Rol) and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) indicator, and for performing the reliability and extended life-time of wind turbines (WTs) and wind farms (WF) over the years. Under this scenario, ROMEO project was launched as a strategic initiative to continue leading the offshore wind energy in the EU. Its main aim is to develop models and tools for early fault detection and diagnosis and prognosis, allowing the transition from calendar based maintenance to condition-based maintenance strategies significantly reducing O&M costs. To that end, a flexible and interoperable cloud IoT platform provides an advanced analytics ecosystem to better understand the real time behaviour of the main components of the WTs under operation conditions; maximizing their life-time and reducing unexpected major correctives, thus minimizing the OPEX which drastically impact on LCoE of offshore Wind Energy.
The project is structured in 3 phases:
- 1. “Specifications” has defined the specifications and requirements to develop a monitoring strategy for the most relevant and critical components to be further considered
- 2. “Models/tools/database” has developed health monitoring systems, diagnosis and prognosis tools for failure detection both at WT components and support structures level, feeding the development of a data acquisition and advanced analytics ecosystem
- 3. “O&M/rollout” has developed and deployed an O&M platform validated in 3 pilot scenarios; the data has served as input for impact assessment with a special focus on LCoE and replicability.
ROMEO’s successful implementation has led to achieve the following overall objectives:
-Reduction of unexpected major correctives through early fault identification, in WTG and substructure;
-Improved performance for new and operating offshore wind power plants and improved cost of energy;
-Contribution to strengthening the European industrial technology base, thereby creating growth and jobs in Europe;
-Contribute to health and safety in the Wind industry;
-Generating synergies in the field of O&M strategies with Onshore wind sector;
-Laying the foundation to place on the market a set of new products and services.
