The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, The Crown Estate, and offshore wind farm owner/operators have launched a collaboration programme aimed at improving wind turbine operational performance by increasing safety, reliability and availability, thereby cutting the cost of electricity generated from offshore wind.
The project will create a database for sharing anonymised offshore wind farm performance and maintenance data. Initially, SPARTA will be developed for UK-based projects, but the setup is fully flexible and allows for the integration of international projects. SPARTA was initiated in 2013 by The Crown Estate in collaboration with DNV GL. Owner/operators Centrica, RWE, SSE, Statkraft and Statoil have already committed to support the project by actively participating in a steering group to ensure that the key output - monthly reporting - provides valuable data which will inform future operational and maintenance decisions. A pilot project will run until March 2015 after which a full-scale implementation of the reporting system is planned. This is the first joint project under an agreement between ORE Catapult and The Crown Estate signed in November 2013. Together, the two bodies have committed to initial development costs in excess of GBP 850,000.
