Germany: SOOP Makes Offshore Wind Farms Cost Effective and Safer

Increasing safety and reducing costs – two aspects that play a major role in offshore wind farms. The achievement of these goals has been coordinated by the Oldenburg-based OFFIS computer science institute project group SOOP – Safe Offshore Operations.

A recently published study on behalf of the Offshore Wind Foundation on energy cost reduction potential in offshore wind in Germany calls for optimization of processes and active risk management as essential building blocks to reduce costs. SOOP, an application-oriented project group also follows this approach.
For two years, research and industry sectors have worked together to develop an IT-based solution targeting mission- and risk-management in order to optimize processes and safety at work.

The project group’s first results are being presented at Emden Offshore Days on 4th and 5th of September.

The project group sees Emden Offshore Days as the most important industry event in Lower Saxony to present users with the model-based approach to operation planning and risk management of offshore wind farms.

The tools created by OFFIS and the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg assist experts in the design and evaluation of operations and safety concepts for offshore wind farms. Through modeling and simulation of processes, workflows of an operation can be optimized and potential hazards and risks can be identified already in the planning phase.

In addition, assistance tools developed at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and the University of Emden / Leer are being presented at the event.  The aim is to use previously acquired knowledge on a sensor-based situation analysis during the operation process, specifically to monitor and warn of critical trends. The creation and evaluation of offshore scenarios is performed by the Maritime Faculty of the Jade University.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND Staff, September 5, 2013; Image: idw