Offshore planners and operators can now take advantage of a new tool that supports the safe and efficient execution of operations on offshore energy assets. Launched by DHI, Metocean Risk Ops is a workability assessment application that offers access to weather window and downtime analyses to support the operations and maintenance (O&M) phase of offshore wind farms, installations and long-haul transportations.
DHI developer Pietro Danilo Tomaselli explains that decision-making for offshore operations relies on the accurate assessment of conditions at sea, traditionally using bulk metocean parameters. However, this approach can often lead to unreliable workability assessments as it doesn’t directly account for actual decision drivers. This means operational cost inefficiencies for the offshore industry and physical hazards for the offshore operators.
“As a cloud-based application that integrates world-class metocean data with practical risk measures derived from vessel motions, Metocean Risk Ops is the ideal tool for weather window predictions in operational scenarios and seasonal downtime analyses at design stage,” says Tomaselli. “Plus, anyone can simulate the entire operation – vessel navigation included – as no modeling expertise is needed.”
The app can update workability assessments as weather forecasts change, thus eliminating costly guesswork. Another useful and effective feature is the ability to easily monitor workability conditions along a user-defined vessel route using the low-demand computational engine.
Metocean Risk Ops is also a solution for devising long-term seasonal plans based on metocean hindcast. Users can create accurate downtime analyses with the embedded MetOcean Data Portal, offering 40 years of validated wind, wave, water level and current data.
Metocean Risk Ops was recently tested during the towing of the TetraSpar floating wind turbine foundation from Grenå, Denmark, to the Marine Energy Test Centre (METCentre) off the coast of Stavanger, Norway. The towing was a part of the TetraSpar Demonstration Project involving Stiesdal Offshore Technologies, Shell, RWE and TEPCO Renewable Power.
Metocean Risk Ops will soon be expanded to support decommissioning of offshore wind farms, as well as oil and gas structures.
