Modelling the installation of offshore wind farms

Defining the installation of offshore wind submarine power cables using a discrete event simulation based logistics model

Master thesis (2020)

Authors

G. Gopalan Achary Venkitachalam Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

Clym Stock Williams TNO Energy Transition (supervisor 1)
M B Zaaijer Wind Energy - Aerospace Engineering (supervisor 2)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2020 Gopan Gopalan Achary Venkitachalam
Offshore Wind Power cable installation Marine Installation Program Logisitcs ECN Install UWISE ML Joint Industry Project: Cable Lifetime Monitoring Discrete event simulation
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Published Date

26-11-2020

Language

English

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

A gap in the understanding of offshore wind submarine power cables is responsible for 70-80 % of failures in recent times. The failures originate from the phases of design, manufacturing, installation and operations. Joint industry collaborations such as the Cable Lifetime Monitoring project that form the background for this thesis, are aimed at developing knowledge of these failures. The origination of failures from the installation phase of power cables is of particular interest. In order to do so, a model has to be developed first to understand the processes involved in an installation plan, as well as their time and resource costs. Logistics and planning tools such as ECN Install are utilized for this purpose and provide the medium for capturing the installation processes for submarine power cables. This thesis aims to describe the installation of power cables using a discrete event simulation based logistics model such as ECN Install. The first part of the thesis focuses on a literature review to categorize all aspects of power cable installation. Here the stages of a project, the installation processes, assets, methods and influencing weather parameters are identified. From this literature review it is found that the most important stage of a power cable installation project is the Marine Installation Program. The decisions leading to the development of a Marine Installation plan are mapped for modelling. The second part of the thesis deals with applying the knowledge acquired into the logistics model. Here, the model assumptions are set in order to create an accurate depiction of the installation processes. The third part of the thesis investigates the influence of input uncertainties on the model as a means to understand the relationship between the different aspects of a power cable installation project to its Marine Installation Program. A sensitivity study is performed to quantify the impact of different uncertainties on a Marine Installation Program. The final part of the thesis has the
analysis of a historical case study. Here the Marine Installation Program of the Gemini export cable is constructed.