Abstract
Operation and maintenance can jeopardise the financial viability of an offshore wind energy project due to the cost of downtime, repairs and, above all, the inevitable uncertainties. The variability of wave climate can impede or hinder emergency repairs when a failure occurs, and the resulting delays imply additional costs which ultimately reduce the competitiveness of offshore wind energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. Co-located wind turbines and Wave Energy Converters (WECs) are proposed in this paper as a novel solution: the reduction of the significant wave height brought about by the WECs along the periphery of the wind farm results in a milder wave climate within the farm. This reduction, also called shadow effect, enlarges weather windows for Operation & Maintenance (O&M). The objective of this paper is to investigate the increase in the accessibility time to the turbines and to optimise the layout for the co-located wind-wave farm in order to maximise this time. The investigation is carried out through a case study: Alpha Ventus, an operating offshore wind farm. To maximise the reduction of wave height in the turbine area no fewer than 15 layouts are tested using high-resolution numerical modelling, and a sensitivity analysis is conducted. The results show that, thanks to the wave energy extraction by the WECs, weather windows (access time) can increase very significantly – over 80%. This substantial effect, together with other benefits from the combination of wave and offshore wind power in a co-located farm (common electrical infrastructures, shared O&M equipment and crews, etc.) will enhance the economic viability of these marine renewables, and hence their potential to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet.