iX Challenge: Remote Diagnostics and Digital Twins for Offshore Wind
The Innovation Exchange programme is working alongside Scottish & Southern Electricity Renewables (SSER), with ownership in both Beatrice and Greater Gabbard offshore wind sites. SSER wishes to engage innovators to find solutions providing smart diagnostic tools for condition-based maintenance of offshore wind assets.
SSER is a leading developer and operator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland, with a portfolio of around 4GW of onshore wind, offshore wind and hydro. SSER has the largest offshore wind development pipeline in the UK and Ireland at over 6GW and has an onshore wind pipeline across both markets in excess of 1GW.
Industries such as automotive and aerospace have paved the way for effective use of digital twins and AI-enabled modelling and in doing so have adapted their operating and maintenance model to allow more informed and progressive decision making. The offshore wind sector is yet to widely utilise digital twin technology, however doing so offers opportunities to increase safety, reliability and optimal efficiency of turbines by enabling pre-emptive monitoring and maintenance.
SSER has significant individual system analysis data and modelling for their assets and now require a solution for integrated data management and an innovative digital approach for whole-system structural analysis and modelling as well as WTG major component diagnostics.
Challenge
The challenge is to utilise existing data streams to present asset information in an accessible format and provide actionable information for inspection and maintenance planning.
Deployment of additional sensors to create solution is out of scope (see Challenge section for further detail), the aim of this challenge is to use existing data only.
Solutions would ideally implement smart, remote diagnostic tools (e.g. digital twin technology) that aim to support a condition-based maintenance system’s (CMS) approach to managing offshore wind assets.
SSER wishes to incorporate its CMS and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) data of all wind turbine components from the foundation up into a single tool.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- Wind turbine components (Drivetrain, blades and ancillary systems)
- Electrical components (excluding transmission system)
- Substructure components (including foundation, tower, transition piece)
Entrants to this competition must be:
- Established businesses, start-ups, SMEs or individual entrepreneurs
- UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base
Partnerships and consortia of organisations are welcome to apply to this competition.