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The global floating offshore wind energy industry is rapidly maturing, with several technologies having been installed at pilot and demonstration scales. As the industry progresses to full array-scale deployments, the optimization of marine activities related to installation, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning presents a significant opportunity for cost reduction. This paper reviews the various marine operations challenges towards the commercialization of floating wind in the context of spar-type, semi-submersible and tension leg platform (TLP) technologies. Knowledge gaps and research trends are identified along with a review of innovations at various stages of development, which are intended to widen weather windows, reduce installation costs, and improve the health and safety of floating-wind-related marine operations.

The aim of this study is to assess the capacity within Government departments and associated State agencies in terms of human resources to deliver Ireland’s offshore wind targets (e.g. 3.5GW by 2030), and make recommendations on the investment in human resources required. Discussions were held with representatives from a number of Government departments and agencies to determine the numbers of people currently engaged in work relating to offshore wind and to gain an understanding of the tasks that must still be accomplished before offshore wind turbines can be installed in Irish waters. The planning and consenting process for offshore wind in Scotland was also investigated to see if there are lessons to be learned by Ireland from the Scottish experience. It was found that there are a number of potential bottlenecks within the consenting process that must be addressed if Ireland’s offshore wind targets are to be met. It is likely that An Bord Pleanála will receive a surge of offshore wind farm applications from Relevant Projects in 2021/2022; therefore, it is recommended that a minimum of 10 staff within An Bord Pleanála should be dedicated to processing these applications. Both the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment will need additional resourcing to ensure efficient marine planning and consenting processes. It is also recommended that resources are fed into the statutory consultees to ensure proper consultation and to prevent challenges on nature conservation grounds creating lengthy delays. For this reason also, the establishment of a coordinated scientific research and data collection programme is recommended to support the marine spatial planning and consenting processes.

The aim of this study is to assess the capacity within Government departments and associated State agencies in terms of human resources to deliver Ireland’s offshore wind targets (e.g. 3.5GW by 2030), and make recommendations on the investment in human resources required. Discussions were held with representatives from a number of Government departments and agencies to determine the numbers of people currently engaged in work relating to offshore wind and to gain an understanding of the tasks that must still be accomplished before offshore wind turbines can be installed in Irish waters. The planning and consenting process for offshore wind in Scotland was also investigated to see if there are lessons to be learned by Ireland from the Scottish experience. It was found that there are a number of potential bottlenecks within the consenting process that must be addressed if Ireland’s offshore wind targets are to be met. It is likely that An Bord Pleanála will receive a surge of offshore wind farm applications from Relevant Projects in 2021/2022; therefore, it is recommended that a minimum of 10 staff within An Bord Pleanála should be dedicated to processing these applications. Both the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment will need additional resourcing to ensure efficient marine planning and consenting processes. It is also recommended that resources are fed into the statutory consultees to ensure proper consultation and to prevent challenges on nature conservation grounds creating lengthy delays. For this reason also, the establishment of a coordinated scientific research and data collection programme is recommended to support the marine spatial planning and consenting processes.

The aim of this study is to assess the capacity within Government departments and associated State agencies in terms of human resources to deliver Ireland’s offshore wind targets (e.g. 3.5GW by 2030), and make recommendations on the investment in human resources required. Discussions were held with representatives from a number of Government departments and agencies to determine the numbers of people currently engaged in work relating to offshore wind and to gain an understanding of the tasks that must still be accomplished before offshore wind turbines can be installed in Irish waters. The planning and consenting process for offshore wind in Scotland was also investigated to see if there are lessons to be learned by Ireland from the Scottish experience. It was found that there are a number of potential bottlenecks within the consenting process that must be addressed if Ireland’s offshore wind targets are to be met. It is likely that An Bord Pleanála will receive a surge of offshore wind farm applications from Relevant Projects in 2021/2022; therefore, it is recommended that a minimum of 10 staff within An Bord Pleanála should be dedicated to processing these applications. Both the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment will need additional resourcing to ensure efficient marine planning and consenting processes. It is also recommended that resources are fed into the statutory consultees to ensure proper consultation and to prevent challenges on nature conservation grounds creating lengthy delays. For this reason also, the establishment of a coordinated scientific research and data collection programme is recommended to support the marine spatial planning and consenting processes.

There is an urgent need to replace carbon-based energy sources with renewable energy sources, and floating offshore wind is seen as a critical component in the drive towards energy diversification. Floating offshore wind facilitates accessing a far vaster wind resource that exists in deeper waters, further offshore. Floating offshore wind platforms must undergo wave tank testing in the early stages of development to assess model responses to different wave and wind conditions. Wave tank testing, while highly beneficial, is liable to errors arising throughout the testing campaign. Errors can arise during wave tank setup, testing, and analysis of results. Some of the primary sources of error include errors in the model location within the tank, errors in model parameters like mass, inertia and CoG, and errors due to incorrect replication of mooring forces and aerodynamic forces from the turbine. Scaling wind turbine blade properties can be challenging; this is because aerodynamic forces are scaled using Reynolds scaling, but all hydrodynamic forces are scaled using Froude scaling. For this reason, wind emulation systems are used to replicate the aerodynamic forces from the turbine only. Testing was completed using two very different floating offshore wind concepts. A sensitivity analysis was completed by conducting variations to the wind emulation system used, the model inertia and centre of gravity, and the mooring stiffness of the model. The magnitudes of the variations to the inertia, centre of gravity and mooring stiffness were based on the uncertainty in the values of each of the parameters. Three wind emulation systems of varying complexity were used for this comparison, a simple weighted pulley system, a constant thruster and the software in the loop system developed by CENER. The comparison was conducted to assess the influence of wind emulation systems on the uncertainty of platform response It was found that the effects of each variation conducted were magnified at resonance, and the magnitude of platform response was affected to a greater extent than the period of resonance response. Of all the variations to the model properties conducted, the inertia about the y-axis and location of the centre of gravity along the x-axis affected pitch response to the greatest extent. A 7% change in the inertia about the y-axis coupled with an 8.57% resulted in a 10% change in the period of resonance response for pitch, Tr, and 52% decrease in the magnitude of resonance respsonse for pitch, Tr, mag. Changes in the wind emulation system affected the pitch response most significantly, while the period of resonance response Tr, was mostly unaffected , the magnitude of resonance response Tr, mag, was reduced by nearly 90% when a pulley system was used in lieu of a conventional thruster for a semi-submersible model. Changes in mooring stiffness did not influence the period of resonance response but did affect the magnitude of resonance response, particularly in surge. For a linear horizontal mooring system applied to a semi-submersible model, a 1% decrease in the spring stiffness resulted in a 9% decrease in the magnitude of resonance response for surge, Tr, mag.