CleanWinTur – An ultrasonic system for anti-fouling and condition monitoring of offshore wind turbines

"Offshore wind energy has been instrumental in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and rendering the UK less dependent on imports to cover its energy needs. As such, large investment programmes and favourable legislation have been driving growth in the sector with overall capacity doubling every five years, a trend that is set to continue by 2030. However, offshore wind energy costs remain high and the increasing depth and distance from the shore continue to drive maintenance costs up, particularly those associated with accessing the turbines for maintenance crews. In particular, dealing with marine growth through traditional means (i.e. manually cleaning the access ladders) becomes increasingly costly, challenging, dangerous, and ineffective.

CleanWinTur will automate this process with a permanently installed system that will utilise techniques such as ultrasound, UV-C and thermal sterilisation to prevent marine growth on the access ladders, reducing respective costs and dangers.