Foundation and Structural Health Monitoring Offshore Wind Farm Deutsche Bucht

Merkur Offshore Service GmbH operates the Merkur offshore wind farm (OWF) in the German North Sea, about 60 km north of the coast. The wind farm comprises 66 Haliade 150-6MW (Alstom Power) wind turbine generators (WTGs) and is located in the German exclusive economic zone. The layout of the wind farm is shown in figure 1.

Wölfel equipped 7 of the 66 WTGs with a foundation monitoring system for a detailed monitoring of structural response and integrity. SCADA data showing the environmental and operating conditions of the structures, as well as met-ocean data collected by the buoy, are also analyzed by Wölfel.

During operation, our monitoring system is able to provide accurate load numbers that can be compared to the fatigue analysis from the design. The monitoring application enables the identification of WTG sites that may be exposed to higher load cycles or amplitudes. Early identification of critical sites enables planning of corrective actions to achieve the minimum lifetime target at each site.

At all WTG sites, the monitoring system provides complete documentation of the substructure's complete load history, which opens up the possibility of a lifetime extension.