Efficient Project Planning for Floating Offshore Wind Farm Development1

Abstract

The expectation of rapid growth in floating offshore wind farms (FOWFs) calls for urgent development of the associated supply chain comprising floater fabrication, transportation, assembly, and installation. As the intermediate stock of floaters is limited, irregular and unplanned suspension of operations that could arise due to unfavorable weather conditions would strongly influence the supply chain. Successful throughput in the supply chain results from available infrastructure that defines the stock and flow capacity for each step in the project. The complexity of the interactions among the processes and the uncertainty of weather conditions pose significant challenges in planning an efficient infrastructure development plan to meet the future demand for FOWFs. This study proposes a planning method that evaluates the performance of various configurations in such development using a stock–flow simulation model while considering weather conditions. By using this dynamic model, challenges in the supply chain arising from limited stock or unfavorable weather conditions can be replicated, and the infrastructure development plans necessary to meet project requirements can be suggested. The model is validated by using data from an existing FOWF project and applied to a case study in Kyushu, Japan to propose port infrastructure development plans to achieve the desired performance. From the case study, setting the operational limit for weather conditions was identified as the primary bottleneck by quantifying operation rates and downtime for each infrastructure. Improvement solutions for the identified bottlenecks significantly alleviate demands on other infrastructure and decrease the impact of weather uncertainty.