Two out of the five gravity-based foundations (GBFs) for the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator project have been fitted with a sensor system designed by ORE Catapult, with the first such GBF currently making its way up the River Tyne before being installed at the site.
This is the first time that sensors have been installed in a gravity-based foundation and used to analyse the performance of the foundations in the challenging conditions they will be exposed to in the real-world. The data collected from the sensors will be synchronised with ORE Catapult’s met mast, located three nautical miles off the Blyth coast.
The sensor system is part of the Demowind-funded FS Found project, in which ORE Catapult is partnering with EDF Energy Renewables (EDF ER) and Royal BAM Group to demonstrate and validate the new ‘float and submerge’ GBFs at the design, manufacture and installation stages.
Jonathan Hughes , ORE Catapult’s Technical Lead on FS Found, said: “Float and submerge gravity-based foundations have the potential to be deployed without the need for expensive installation or heavy lift vessels.
“Incorporating a condition monitoring system into this first demonstration of this new technology will help the industry to improve design optimisation and reduce costs, helping to make GBFs commercially viable as a foundation solution.”
The Blyth Offshore Demonstrator project, being built by EDF Energy Renewables, is located around 6.5km off the coast of Blyth. It will feature five MHI Vestas 8MW turbines optimised to deliver a maximum output of 8.3MW.
Royal BAM Group designed and built the gravity based foundations used in the project. The first foundation was installed at the site at the end of July, with the second one put in place shortly after.