Heavy maintenance of offshore wind turbines
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT
Offshore wind is an important part of Statoil’s plans for building a profitable new energy business. 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.
We are now pleased to announce the winners of our innovation challenge on Heavy maintenance of offshore wind turbines.
The Innovation Challenge received 48 proposals, so the competition was tough. Out of these, we have chosen three proposals based on our criteria in the contest posting. These three will each be awarded a prize of NOK 100000. At this stage, we will proceed with discussions with the three winners for possible further maturation of their ideas.
We would like to thank everyone who visited Statoil Innovate and showed interest in the challenge. We are especially grateful to all the innovators who contributed to the Heavy Maintenance Challenge.
Lagerwey proposal:
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. 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.
Ampelmann proposal:
The Ampelmann E-type hexapod is 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 proposal:
AXTech’s Wind Worker utilize 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.
