(Closed) SOS-WindEnergy – Sustainable Reuse of Decommissioned Offshore Jacket Platforms for Offshore Wind Energy

Planet Earth is composed of land and water, respectively, 29.2% and 70.8%, where approximately 97.5% of the water is in our seas and oceans. The ocean is the least explored resource on our planet. In 2010, the European Science Foundation’s Marine Council predicted that, by 2050, Europe will supply up to 50% of its electricity needs from marine renewable energy. Thus, offshore renewable energy presents challenges and opportunities in particular for Portugal, with its significant resources in one of the largest sea areas in Europe. The SOS-WindEnergy project intends to evaluate metocean (meteorological and oceanographic) environment conditions and modeling of its variability using “environmental contour” approaches that will rely on measured waves and wind data in Portuguese offshore sites being considered for renewable energy generation.

The project team will bring important synergies towards addressing the problem of how to safely and responsibly use or reuse existing sites and systems in place for future offshore wind energy generation. The SOS-WindEnergy focuses on a literature review on metocean data analysis and fatigue approaches; feasibility assessments of specific support structures using metocean data; and, fatigue performance evaluation of platforms for offshore wind. The project will thus establish a methodology for fatigue performance evaluation of jacket platforms using available metocean environmental data and stochastic modeling approaches, while considering the service life of these same decommissioned structures, to be modified to support wind turbines that can support a marine renewable energy industry.

It is anticipated that the proposed work can serve as a pilot study for planned reliability analyses. The benefits to the environment are obvious; such reuse plans reduce waste and the intended future use also contributes to a cleaner and more responsible energy generation and less harm to the environment.