Following over 26,000 installations worldwide, it was announced this week that FoundOcean is trialling its latest range of Marine Growth Prevention (MGP) units on an unnamed offshore wind farm jacket structure in the UK.
“To demonstrate the effectiveness of controlling marine growth with this established technology, we have installed two units on a jacket structure in the Liverpool Bay area,” said Andy Venn, Marketing Director at FoundOcean. He continued, “These latest units are the beginning of an extended trial period on the jacket, following successful results of an earlier version of an MGP unit fitted in 2013.”
As well as adding to the static weight of a structure, marine growth can interfere with the systems for corrosion protection and increase the hydrodynamic loadings associated with wave and current actions on the structure. These increased stresses can result in unnecessary and avoidable fatigue damage which in turn can reduce the operational lifespan of the asset. Hence many offshore standards address the control of marine growth, particularly with regard to the inspection of marine growth build-up and its removal.
Venn added “The advantage of this technology is that it is constantly preventing the build-up of the microbial slime which is commonly the precursor to much more damaging hard and soft marine growths like crustaceans and seaweed.”
MGP is offered in two versions, wave driven for splash zone applications, and current driven for controlling marine growth subsea. By eliminating the need for divers to periodically remove marine growth, numerous asset managers around the globe have found that the technology is one of the most cost-effective and safest life extension solutions on the market.