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WATEREYE
Offshore wind energy has a number of advantages over terrestrial technologies as it is possible to find locations with greater wind resource. In addition, offshore conditions allow the installation of larger and more powerful wind turbines. However, it is still necessary to continue reducing costs in manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance.
Regarding O&M operations, the marine environment entails more severe conditions during its useful life, which is why WATEREYE sets corrosion as a key point for cost reduction in offshore wind farms as these costs can represent up to 30% of the LCOE (in 2030 an estimated LCOE of 70 €/MWh). In addition, other risks associated with corrosion are structural failures and downtime due to repairs.
The main objective of the WATEREYE Project is Maintenance-Predictive, i.e. to obtain the necessary tools for the detection and prediction of future failures. This project basically follows 3 main lines.
- Development of a monitoring system capable of remotely calculating the level of corrosion in specific areas.
- Development of algorithms for the control of wind turbines as well as the global control of the whole plant.
- Development of high precision ultrasound sensors to measure corrosion in real time. As well as a robust “wireless” communication system specially designed for marine conditions. In addition, a drone will be designed to monitor the surfaces from inside the tower.
These proposals will be validated by means of tests and simulations that allow to verify the functionality and efficiency of the developed systems.
Web Watereye: https://watereye-project.eu/
