Instrumentation and Monitoring Strategy

This will include a) an overview of existing/planned developments, b) foundation and installation solutions, and c) data required for installation control and performance monitoring of these.

The aim of this task was to:

• Evaluate monitoring needs specific for the wind energy industry, related to type of installation. Understanding the monitoring needs is the basis for the monitoring strategy.
• Review specific technologies and instruments and identify suitable system solutions.
• Consolidate experience from subsea oil and gas installations to develop guidelines for the practical design, procurement and installation of appropriate monitoring systems.

Offshore Wind Turbine Structures are tall and slender, thus relatively sensitive installations in regards to structural loading and structural response. In particular when water depths and turbines are getting bigger the dynamic motions, settlements and possible tilting are particularly onerous for the generator and rotors.

In addition, confirmation of foundation and structural performance are essential to verify design assumptions for large scale field developments. Finally, the instrumentation and monitoring data from current installations provides insight and a technical basis for optimizing future foundation and structural solutions.