Auxiliary Towable Operation and Maintenance System for Offshore Wind Towers: ATOMS

Project title: BlueInvest Grants : Investing in Blue Innovation

Project ID: 958976

Programme(s): European Maritime and Fisheries Fund-EMFF-1

Topic(s): EMFF-BEW-2019

Type of action: EMFF Action Grant

Objective: OPEX accounts for approximately 30% of the cost of offshore wind energy and is thus a critical factor in the path to further reducing the cost of this strategic energy source. Nearly half of this OPEX is dedicated to paying for the large jack-up vessels that are, as of today, the only option to perform any so called Large Corrective Maintenance (LCM) interventions, dealing with the replacement and handling of major components of offshore wind turbines. ATOMS (Attachable Towable O&M System) project will complete the development, prototype, certification and fully demonstration in real operative offshore conditions of a pioneer technology for turbines’ Large Corrective Maintenance actions which will -for the first time- scape the monopoly of jack-up vessels and will drastically reduce the maintenance cost of bottom-fixed wind turbines. What is more, ATOMS shall demonstrate and provide a simple and yet breakthrough solution to one of the key unsolved technological challenges for the future of the offshore wind sector: how to perform onsite Large Corrective Maintenance operations in floating wind turbines. Not only will our solution slash to nearly 1/5 the costs currently dedicated to jack-up services for the maintenance of bottom-fixed turbines, resulting in a 35% reduction in current OPEX but it will also fill the technological gap existing in floating offshore market when dealing with LCM actions. At last but not least, the ATOMS project will also have a measurable impact on employability and environment. On the one hand, ATOMS’ considerably sophisticated yet simple solution is expected to positively impact local economy growth both through direct hiring and indirect spending. On the other hand, its environmental impact will be much lower when compared to existing solutions by reducing CO2 emissions and seabed conditions, without affecting marine flora and fauna by not needing to be supported on the seabed as conventional O&M jack up vessels.