Statoil has chosen Ampelmann, AXTech and Largeway as the winners of the Norwegian energy company’s innovation challenge on heavy maintenance of offshore wind turbines.
In March 2017, Statoil invited proposals for equipment and procedures to facilitate efficient heavy maintenance operations on floating and far offshore wind turbines without the use of jack-up vessels or large floating crane vessels.
Ampelmann’s proposal was the Ampelmann E-type hexapod used to compensate relative motions. By using a special gripper on a gangway, a stable connection is made. Once connected, a robot moves over the gangway towards the tower and hoists itself up towards the nacelle. The robot is equipped with both a small crane, as well as a blade-handling jig. Payloads are then lowered with the robot along the tower, where the load can be collected.
AXTech’s Wind Worker utilizes a special catamaran vessel with active stabilization of the vessel’s roll and pitch together with a special compensated telescopic arm. By compensating the roll and pitch motions as well as synchronizing the telescopic arm with the windmill’s motions, maintenance may be performed in a safe and efficient way, Statoil said.
Lagerwey is a manufacturer of onshore wind turbines, and has developed a climbing crane – a solution that also may be interesting to develop for offshore use, Statoil said. The climbing crane attaches itself to the wind tower and climbs up. While climbing, it can install elements of the wind tower or change heavy elements of the wind turbine.
The three selected companies will now receive a NOK 100,000 prize each and will start discussions with Statoil for possible further maturation of their ideas. Overall, Statoil received a total of 48 proposals.
Offshore wind is an important part of Statoil’s plans for building a profitable new energy business, the company said. Statoil has the ambition to allocate 15-20 % of CAPEX in 2030 to low-carbon solutions, including new energy projects. A steadily increasing number of offshore wind farms will need maintenance as well as replacement of heavy equipment.