Feedering Method Analysis for 20 MW Offshore Wind Turbine Installation in the U.S.

Abstract

The Jones Act, limited US port facilities, and absence of Jones Act-compliant installation vessels pose significant challenges for offshore wind farm installations. These factors force contractors to explore new installation strategies, such as feedering. Feedering is an installation strategy where the wind turbine installation vessel remains stationed at the offshore wind farm, while a feeder vessel transports all wind turbine components from the marshaling port to the installation site. With the rise of U.S. wind farm developments on the East Coast, it becomes apparent that alternative vessel designs and strategies will play a vital role in the near future. Therefore it is crucial to gain an understanding of Jones Act complaint vessel designs and strategies.

In this thesis, a new method for optimizing feeder vessel design concurrently with a wind turbine installation strategy is introduced. The approach combines multi-agent discrete-event simulation and design space exploration to define the optimum within the design space. The proposed method facilitates the evaluation and comparison of the operational performance of design configurations using historical environmental data, operating limits, and operational characteristics. Importantly, the proposed approach accommodates for the interdependency of operations making it suitable for the design and evaluation of repetitive multi-tasked operations. This method provides an improvement over the commonly used workability percentage and thereby allows for improved and fit-for-purpose designs.

A case study is performed based on Vineyard Wind WTG installation works that shows the potential of the proposed approach and the impact of vessel size, installation strategy and equipment characteristics on operational performance. This research offers new insights into the optimization of offshore wind farm installation processes and vessel designs paving the way for more efficient and effective installations in the rapidly growing U.S. wind energy sector.