Project References
WILLOW project
[WILLOW: Wholistic and Integrated digital tools for extended Lifetime and profitability of Offshore Wind farms]
The WILLOW project aims to develop an innovative Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) System that utilizes physical models and artificial intelligence methods to assess the lifespan of wind energy infrastructure. This will contribute to reducing the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and increasing the Annual Energy Production (AEP).
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement 1011122184 .
Maintenance costs
Reduction of up to 50% on the inspection costs.
Lifetime
Extend the lifetime of platforms by 20% with a life cycle of 25 years.
Enviromental impact
Expectation of reducing noise pollution by 4%.
Levelized cost of energy (LCOE)
Up to 10% reduction of LCOE, between 3.5 and 4.5€/MWh.
Wind energy takes on a large share in the energy market and will play a crucial role in securing the stability of power grids in the future. However, operation of wind farms, and especially offshore wind farms, are not yet ideal. The operation in fluctuating conditions of wind availability and power grids demand as well as the harsh environmental condition where the offshore wind farms are built, have a negative effect on the structure health of the wind turbines, and therefore on their useful lifetime.
In this context, WILLOW pretends to design a novel Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) System able to provide high quality data to perform a reliable fleet life assessment using physical models and data-based AI methods which will be used for decision-making and maintenance scheduling. This will contribute to the reduction of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and to the increase of the Annual Energy Production (AEP) towards the current trend of design and operating life of offshore wind farms with up to 20 MW turbines beyond 50 years.
Objectives of the WILLOW project:
Global monitoring system
Development of a global structural health monitoring system for the tower/transition piece, and foundations based on loads, accelerations, images, thickness losses considering fatigue, pitting corrosion and coating degradation by using physical and virtual sensors combined with machine learning techniques.
Consumed life and remaining useful life forecasting tool
Development of prognosis tools to predict the consumed lifetime (CL) and the remaining useful lifetime (RUL) of all the sub-structures within the offshore windfarm by combining SCADA and SHM data using physical models and machine learning methods.
Development of a set of ambitious outreach activities
Development of decision-making support tools for wind farm operators for smart power dispatch in curtailed conditions and O&M scheduling valid for up to 20 MW turbines.
Development of a set of ambitious outreach activities
Development of a set of ambitious outreach activities to facilitate the sector uptake of the tools: Dissemination, Communication, Exploitation, Standardisation and Training activities.
How does TSI participate in this project?
TSI will bring its expertise in Underwater Radiated Noise and Structural Health Monitoring of complex marine structures to participate in key tasks of the project, more specifically those related to:
- Measure and manage of Underwater Radiated Noise coming from Off-Shore Wind Farms.
- Definining the requirements for SHM.
- Identify and propose the most suitable set of sensors for SHM.
- Provide input for AI/ML algorithms that will be used for developing maintenance strategies.
The WILLOW consortium consists of 12 partners with complementary assets and founded expertise. The project has received funding from the European Commission, under the Horizon Europe Programme
PROJECT START DATE
1/10/2023
PROJECT END DATE
30/09/2026
PROJECT REFERENCE
HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-03-04
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Ceit (Ceit Technology Center)
