Conclusion

The aim of the project was to find the best solution that would lead to a reduction of O&M costs for far offshore wind farms. However, there is no ‘ultimate solution’ that would be profitable to all of the wind farms. Each wind farm is unique and has its own parameters that would influence the choice of accommodation that’s suitable for that particular wind farm.

Therefore, the most important outcome of this project is the Far Offshore Wind Interactive Tool - FOWIT that enables developers or operators to input their own data, and find out which solution will bring the most savings in a short or long term scenario. FOWIT allows you to put your own data related to costs of the vessels, corrective maintenance tasks etc., and a number of different solutions will be calculated. The solutions are presented in a form of graphs that shows (depending on the number of years of a project) how long it will take to receive a ‘payback’ and how much savings a company could receive comparing to other options.

It is clear the accuracy of the results will be directly related to the accuracy of the data. As our group performed parametric analysis based on assumptions and estimations of costs, we could only recommend certain solution based on those estimations. However, as the data could be added in a very easy way, anyone could use our calculator and decide what is best for them. FOWIT is a user friendly tool that could help with a decision-making process.