Pooling resources: a streamlined service in offshore wind
Hamburg / 16 July 2021
Siemens Gamesa has developed the Service Train & Pit Stop product to increase turbine availability and achieve optimal energy production when performing annual service. By sharing the same Service Operation Vessel (SOV) between multiple nearby wind sites, Siemens Gamesa can optimize the resources in the field, streamline the workflow of technicians, and schedule maintenance within one single visit, enabling multiple finished services per day.
Siemens Gamesa has developed the Service Train & Pit Stop product to increase turbine availability and achieve optimal energy production when performing annual service. By sharing the same Service Operation Vessel (SOV) between multiple nearby wind sites, Siemens Gamesa can optimize the resources in the field, streamline the workflow of technicians, and schedule maintenance within one single visit, enabling multiple finished services per day.
Corporate Affairs Department
Alessandra Solano
alesandra.solano@siemensgamesa.comAs the market-leading supplier of offshore wind turbines, Siemens Gamesa is aware of the complexity and challenges that lie within planning and service of offshore wind farms. By harnessing economies of scale, the Service Train & Pit Stop Service developed by Siemens Gamesa aims to decrease levelized costs of energy over the wind farm's lifetime.
In the case of wind farms located further offshore, scheduled maintenance becomes more dependent on accessibility. With Crew Transfer Vessels (CTV) being limited to difficult weather conditions and long transfer times daily work becomes highly inefficient and result in higher costs per turbine, as the crew returns to shore every day.
“Service Train & Pit Stop service is designed to make far-shore projects possible at costs of a CTV setup with a shared SOV utilized on multiple offshore wind farms, carrying more technicians, operating in harder weather conditions and stay offshore for two weeks in a row. Thanks to this lean methodology, we can optimize the workflow of technicians to achieve a full turbine annual service in just one day. Thus, the time taken to complete the wind farm service and turbine downtime are greatly reduced. The advantages are enormous”, highlights Christian Leffringhausen, Product Manager.
“Less time spent on carrying out each service combined with the balance of plant maintenance result in a service activity related downtime reduction of up to 50% per turbine, which reflects a positive impact on the Annual Energy Production,” he adds.
In the case of wind farms located further offshore, scheduled maintenance becomes more dependent on accessibility. With Crew Transfer Vessels (CTV) being limited to difficult weather conditions and long transfer times daily work becomes highly inefficient and result in higher costs per turbine, as the crew returns to shore every day.
“Service Train & Pit Stop service is designed to make far-shore projects possible at costs of a CTV setup with a shared SOV utilized on multiple offshore wind farms, carrying more technicians, operating in harder weather conditions and stay offshore for two weeks in a row. Thanks to this lean methodology, we can optimize the workflow of technicians to achieve a full turbine annual service in just one day. Thus, the time taken to complete the wind farm service and turbine downtime are greatly reduced. The advantages are enormous”, highlights Christian Leffringhausen, Product Manager.
“Less time spent on carrying out each service combined with the balance of plant maintenance result in a service activity related downtime reduction of up to 50% per turbine, which reflects a positive impact on the Annual Energy Production,” he adds.
Thanks to this lean methodology, we can optimize the workflow of technicians to achieve a full turbine annual service in just one day. Thus, the time taken to complete the wind farm service and turbine downtime are greatly reduced. The advantages are enormous
RWE: a success story
From 2019 to 2020, Service Train & Pit Stop Service was active in Amrumbank West, a German RWE-owned offshore wind farm in the North Sea that consists of 80 turbines.
“We’re impressed by Siemens Gamesa’s performance, setting safety, time, and quality benchmarks. The possibility to combine Pit Stop Services with additional internal initiatives helped us significantly reduce downtime due to scheduled maintenance and CTV logistics,” said Enrico Schaefer, Head of Operations Continental Europe, RWE.
By having the right knowledge and approach, Siemens Gamesa is once again at the forefront of the wind industry. The figures speak for themselves: the company achieved an impressive 97% availability in 2020 in its whole Direct Drive fleet, composed by more than 1,200 turbines spinning in the water. The Service Train & Stop Service is one step more in the right direction.
“We’re impressed by Siemens Gamesa’s performance, setting safety, time, and quality benchmarks. The possibility to combine Pit Stop Services with additional internal initiatives helped us significantly reduce downtime due to scheduled maintenance and CTV logistics,” said Enrico Schaefer, Head of Operations Continental Europe, RWE.
By having the right knowledge and approach, Siemens Gamesa is once again at the forefront of the wind industry. The figures speak for themselves: the company achieved an impressive 97% availability in 2020 in its whole Direct Drive fleet, composed by more than 1,200 turbines spinning in the water. The Service Train & Stop Service is one step more in the right direction.
