The National Decommissioning Centre (NDC) has teamed up with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult in a research partnership aimed at developing new offshore wind technologies.
The partnership initially consists of three PhD projects, each focusing on a different aspect of offshore wind development, including the simulation of floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) systems, design optimisation of these systems, and environmental concerns.
The three projects include:
- Simulations of Floating Offshore Wind Marine Operations – the National Decommissioning Centre’s £1.6 million immersive simulation suite will be used to trial virtual marine operations related to the installation and maintenance of FOWT systems in a risk-free environment.
- Multi-objective Design Optimisation of Floating Offshore Wind Systems – this will develop a numerical tool to improve the design of combined floating platforms and mooring and dynamic cable systems, allowing users to quickly identify the best solutions based on project circumstance and cost.
- Study of Environmental Interactions of FOW Technology – this will investigate how key environmental stakeholders, advisory bodies and research organisations can work together to identify gaps in their knowledge of how offshore wind farms interact with the marine environment, and better identify solutions.
Each PhD project is valued at £84,000 and co-funded by ORE Catapult, the NDC and the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen.
Dr Marcin Kapitaniak and Professor Richard Neilson from the University of Aberdeen are coordinating the projects at the NDC in Newburgh.
