Periodic Reporting for period 3 - MAREWIND (MAterials solutions for cost Reduction and Extended service life on WIND off-shore facilities)
Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2024-11-30
The next generation of large offshore wind energy generators and tidal power generators needs improvements to solve challenges related to materials, coatings and multi-material architectures to increase operational performance and allow an appreciable reduction of the overall cost: capital expenditure, running and maintenance costs. Offshore energy functional and structural components are subjected to numerous damage mechanisms, which concern both materials and coatings. Corrosion and fatigue turned out to be the main mechanisms of deterioration in offshore structures where severe environmental factors affect such as extended periods of wetness, UV-radiation, abrasion and erosion which could eventually accelerate corrosion rates. Moreover, wind turbine blade leading-edge erosion is one of the key challenges in the offshore wind industry as it can reduce the annual energy production by 4% to 20%. This would equate to a loss in productivity worth between 152 and 760 million € a year across the whole European offshore wind sector. In addition to productivity loss due to repair operations, the maintenance is difficult and the cost is extremely high due to several factors, including the logistics of getting men and materials to the job site, but also due to the limited access to the structures due to offshore weather conditions. Operations and Maintenance account for approximately 25% of the costs of offshore wind farms. In this situation, durability of materials used to protect these types of infrastructures should be matched to their useful life which should optimally perform for 25-30 years. In addition, sustainable processes for dealing with wind turbines at the end of their service life is also needed considering the expected amount of waste blade material that will need to be recycled annually can increase up to 800,000 tonnes per year by 2050. MAREWIND project aims to address these challenging aspects increasing competitiveness and sustainability of the sector.
MAREWIND addresses the main aspects related to materials durability and maintenance in offshore structures which consequently imply failures, misfunctioning, loss of efficiency in energy generation and which have a major repercussion on O&M and CAPEX.
The following specific objectives are set: Increasing durability/anticorrosion of metallic materials for atmospheric and splash areas, Increasing durability of non-metallic materials for structural components, Long-term durability of antifouling coatings without biocides, Increasing stiffness and strength and reducing weight of larger blades, Leading-edge protection systems with increased erosion resistance, Monitoring and predicting structural health and corrosion for preventive maintenance, Implementing circular use of blade materials at prototype level, Demonstrating scalable manufacturing technologies, Standardisation and regulation and Assessing the economic viability, environmental and social impact of the proposed solutions.
All the objectives regarding performance improvement have been monitored with KPIs during the project and the impact can be directly measured through them. The methodology defined for KPIs assessment has been established and reviewed in Consortium Meetings. First stage consisted on setting the references and quantifying the improvements in terms of performance. In a second stage, results of MAREWIND are being collected at different testing scales. Final stage consisted on quantifying the reduction on costs and environmental impacts due to the improvement of the different materials planned in the project. All details of costs quantification according to different cases and scenarios have compared standards with MAREWIND technologies. Furthermore, evaluation of economical performances of MAREWIND solutions carried out through Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodology has been carried out. Other important expected outcome of the project is related with Reduction of Environmental Impact.
All the established objectives have been achieved at the end of the project.
MAREWIND addresses the main aspects related to materials durability and maintenance in offshore structures which consequently imply failures, misfunctioning, loss of efficiency in energy generation and which have a major repercussion on O&M and CAPEX.
The following specific objectives are set: Increasing durability/anticorrosion of metallic materials for atmospheric and splash areas, Increasing durability of non-metallic materials for structural components, Long-term durability of antifouling coatings without biocides, Increasing stiffness and strength and reducing weight of larger blades, Leading-edge protection systems with increased erosion resistance, Monitoring and predicting structural health and corrosion for preventive maintenance, Implementing circular use of blade materials at prototype level, Demonstrating scalable manufacturing technologies, Standardisation and regulation and Assessing the economic viability, environmental and social impact of the proposed solutions.
All the objectives regarding performance improvement have been monitored with KPIs during the project and the impact can be directly measured through them. The methodology defined for KPIs assessment has been established and reviewed in Consortium Meetings. First stage consisted on setting the references and quantifying the improvements in terms of performance. In a second stage, results of MAREWIND are being collected at different testing scales. Final stage consisted on quantifying the reduction on costs and environmental impacts due to the improvement of the different materials planned in the project. All details of costs quantification according to different cases and scenarios have compared standards with MAREWIND technologies. Furthermore, evaluation of economical performances of MAREWIND solutions carried out through Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodology has been carried out. Other important expected outcome of the project is related with Reduction of Environmental Impact.
All the established objectives have been achieved at the end of the project.
Current periodic report of MAREWIND (MAterials solutions for cost Reduction and Extended service life on WIND off-shore facilities) project is the period M37 to M48 (1st December 2023 to 30th November 2024), the 3rd and final reporting period of MAREWIND project.
MAREWIND is divided in eight WPs. On the 3rd periodic report the WP3, related with monitoring and predictive modelling was completed on month 42 (May 2024) with the achievement of Milestone 5, Modelling developed/ Monitoring validation and performance checked.
WP4 Technologies Validation and Manufacturing started on Month 16 and finished on Month 36 on which Milestones 3 and 4 have been reached with validation of technologies and construction of prototypes to be tested in WP5.
On WP5 "Technologies demonstration in relevant environment" the testing on sites selected as relevant environment finished at the end of the project on month 48, last November 2024. All the improved performance was studied technically and results on LCOE reductions and quantification on costs improvements are detailed in D5.8.
On WP6 partners have worked on Technical Validation of results LCC, LCCA & SLCA. Work of all the partners has been of main importance on WP7 Dissemination, exploitation and Stakeholder Engagement, covering all the value chain. WP8 day to day and overall project management has been carried out during the whole project, including also Data Management Plan (DMP).
Regarding exploitation and dissemination of results, the Final Communication and Dissemination Plan_M48 has been submitted at the end of the project in Deliverable D7.4. Furthermore, Exploitation and Business Plan was updated as Deliverable D7.11 on 30th November 2024.
18 Key exploitable results have been identified at the end of the project, being 9 of them selected as more mature KERs after the analysis made on the context of WP7. 4 of them were selected for the questionnaire of the Innovation radar: anticorrosion coating, ultra-high performance concrete, recyclable composite materials for wind blade recyclable resin and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of wind turbine blades.
MAREWIND is divided in eight WPs. On the 3rd periodic report the WP3, related with monitoring and predictive modelling was completed on month 42 (May 2024) with the achievement of Milestone 5, Modelling developed/ Monitoring validation and performance checked.
WP4 Technologies Validation and Manufacturing started on Month 16 and finished on Month 36 on which Milestones 3 and 4 have been reached with validation of technologies and construction of prototypes to be tested in WP5.
On WP5 "Technologies demonstration in relevant environment" the testing on sites selected as relevant environment finished at the end of the project on month 48, last November 2024. All the improved performance was studied technically and results on LCOE reductions and quantification on costs improvements are detailed in D5.8.
On WP6 partners have worked on Technical Validation of results LCC, LCCA & SLCA. Work of all the partners has been of main importance on WP7 Dissemination, exploitation and Stakeholder Engagement, covering all the value chain. WP8 day to day and overall project management has been carried out during the whole project, including also Data Management Plan (DMP).
Regarding exploitation and dissemination of results, the Final Communication and Dissemination Plan_M48 has been submitted at the end of the project in Deliverable D7.4. Furthermore, Exploitation and Business Plan was updated as Deliverable D7.11 on 30th November 2024.
18 Key exploitable results have been identified at the end of the project, being 9 of them selected as more mature KERs after the analysis made on the context of WP7. 4 of them were selected for the questionnaire of the Innovation radar: anticorrosion coating, ultra-high performance concrete, recyclable composite materials for wind blade recyclable resin and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of wind turbine blades.
Over the past 15 years, wind energy has experienced a remarkable growth in Europe. A key factor in the rapid development of the offshore wind industry is the substantial reduction in the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) experienced in the past few years, which enhanced and stimulated investors’ interest in the industry. In order to achieve and maintain the expected cost reductions and ensure the cost competitiveness of offshore wind in the energy sector, MAREWIND project worked on different technologies to optimise CAPEX and OPEX, including improvements on performance and decommission, which will lead to a LCOE reduction. Offshore wind farms are designed to resist the more challenging wind regime offshore, and require additional corrosion protection and other measures to resist the harsh marine environment.
MAREWIND project worked on different materials and technologies: anticorrosion protection for metallic elements, increasing durability and corrosion resistance of non-metallic materials for structural components, antifouling coatings in steel components and polymeric elements, increasing mechanical performance of larger blades, recyclable by-design materials, supporting monitoring and modelling and in situ repair technologies.
MAREWIND project worked on different materials and technologies: anticorrosion protection for metallic elements, increasing durability and corrosion resistance of non-metallic materials for structural components, antifouling coatings in steel components and polymeric elements, increasing mechanical performance of larger blades, recyclable by-design materials, supporting monitoring and modelling and in situ repair technologies.