North Sea Windmill Parks

[christianty11]

Hi all,

is anybody there who have infos about the planed windmill parks in the North Sea? By now there are some German Operators out of Emden like HTM and NHC which operates for the owners with EC135 and Eurocopter Dauphin. Further Wiking out of Mariensiel with A109S. So what about Bristow,CHC, Bond or Dancopter.
Is this new market interesting for the big ones? Are there some efforts to get an entry?
As i know the parks should growing up to more than 4000 Wind mills in the north and east sea. A theroretical need of about 30 helicopters to bring equipment and mechanics to the mills is not a small market i think.

The difference to the oil industrie is the need of smaller helicopter like A109,EC135 or something else. But all with IR and good pilots:)

Anyway, share your informations with me....

[mickjoebill]

A theroretical need of about 30 helicopters to bring equipment and mechanics to the mills is not a small market i think.

I've been out to the wind mill farm in its construction phase off the Dutch coast, each one has a landing area for boats and a ladder up the wind mill mast for access to the top.
They were assembled by a crane atop a jackup barge, that lowered legs to the sea bottom so it was stable. So it is very desirable to install wind mills in shallow water as assembly is very fast and reliable.

Why would helicopters need to be involved in the wind farm to which you refer?


Mickjoebill

[Hilico]

They're building a wind-farm off Clacton in Essex and have at least one accommodation platform - so they might use one there. I only got a distant look at the windfarm from a Tiger Moth on Sunday, and the wind vibrated my goggles so much I couldn't see anything clearly.

[flyer43]

mjb - If offshore windfarms in Denmark are anything to go by, there is a need for a helicopter to carry maintenance engineers to at least one wind generator per day in a reasonable sized farm - say 80 generators. In shallow waters, wave motion builds up quickly and renders boat transfer as too risky for quite substantial periods of time; helicopters are therefore used to winch maintenance personnel to/from the nacelle to ensure the continuity of supply.
The next problem relates to the winching area - should it have a high fence around it as it is a "working platform at height", or should it remain open to facilitate winching without increased risk to the personnel on the wire?

Have fun!

[Brilliant Stuff]

In Denmark a company called Uni-Fly "pioneered" the winching on/off wind mills and they have been doing it for a good long while now. This is their bread and butter. Day in day out.

Bond have started last winter doing the same from Lowestoft out in the channel.

Both are EC135 T2's very very light. Single pilot with winch-person.

Why? Because it makes sense, they want those things to work at their optimum.

Have a look on you tube you should find a video by Uni-fly.

[Stoey]

Here is the Uni Fly operation at Horns Rev i Denmark.

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[Hell Man]

A couple of questions for those of us unititiated into windmill operations - the video posted by Stoey shows a winching platform which doesn't appear to be present on all the windmills?

Also, the mill being filmed had its rotor stopped which poses the question whether when an initial drop is made are the rotors in motion?

Keen to know the details.

HM

[flyer43]

Also, the mill being filmed had its rotor stopped which poses the question whether when an initial drop is made are the rotors in motion?The windmills are all linked together through the grid. If one fails and requires intervention by helicopter, power from the grid is used to turn the windmill nacelle and the blades into the most optimum position for winching to/from the winching surface - usually attached to the rear of the nacelle, furthest from the blades. The nacelle and blades are then locked into position.
I would hope that nobody would even contemplate conducting winch operations when the blades are turning!

[Hell Man]

Thanks Flyer43, this was my concern!

The process you describe - is it all done remotely?

[Brilliant Stuff]

I would have thought so.

Rotordompteur on here is the man to ask since it's his day job and might even be him flying the 135 shown in the vid above. But he is on holiday in the Alps at the moment. But you could always try and PM him.

[flyer43]

The process is normally managed remotely. However, I am not totally familiar with the actual process in place. I would assume that good liaison is required between the heli crew and the department managing the remote controlling of the nacelle and blades to ensure that everything is in the optimum position and locked in place.
My earlier comment regarding the winching area came about as the Danish authorities wouldn't classify the winching deck as an "aviation facility" so it then came under the normal HSE rules and was classified as a working platform at height. This meant they had to erect a permanent fence around it, thus presenting a twofold risk to winching operations. The possibility of catching the cable around the fence and, worse still, the possibility of dragging the winchman on the wire through the fence if the heli has to dive off to one side for any reason. Thankfully for the ongoing heli operation there this has not happened - yet!
It certainly needs to be taken into account in the risk management.

[TBM700]

Hi everybody,

Is any of you able to provide me some technicals informations about the "how to" proceed around offshore windmills ?

Thx.

Nicolas

[RotorDompteur]

TBM700;
check your PMs

RD

[Smeagol]

I project manage the construction of offshore windfarms.

An interesting website detailing most UK and European windfarrms is:

4C Offshore Limited - Marine Consultancy, Market Intelligence and Geographic Information Systems (http://www.4coffshore.com)

The majority of current offsore turbines are accessed by boat only.

As has been indicated by others there are helicopter accessible turbines and this is being considered for the larger, more distant from shore, Round 3, UK wind farms.

My personal view is that this is not the route the industry will eventually take for a number of reasons but not sure what the final solution will be. I just hope that a collision with a turbine or other loss of life is not required before a rethink is made.

[SWBKCB]

Anybody know any more about this? Who's involved?

News & Star | Windfarm chiefs look to fly in workers by copter (http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/windfarm-chiefs-look-to-fly-in-workers-by-copter-1.917881?referrerPath=home/2.1962)

WINDFARM workers could soon be transported to turbines by helicopter.

Engineers working on windfarms off the coast of Cumbria could be transferred by helicopter by the end of 2012.

Both Dong Energy and Vattenfall, which operate windfarms off the coast of Walney, have admitted they are looking at the possibility of helicopter transfer – effectively lowering workers directly onto the turbines.

Workers are transferred using adapted vessels but the energy companies say this method of transport is often subject to delays because of the weather and sea.

Jens Nybo Jensen, from Dong Energy, said the company was already in talks with a helicopter firm.

Mr Jensen said: “Helicopter transfer of technicians is more weather robust than transfer by boat.

“For safety reasons we stop personal transfer from vessels to turbines at a specific wave height. An unfavourable wind direction or current can even stop the operation at lower wave heights.

“Compared to this the helicopter is more weather robust and can access the turbines at up to wind speeds of 20 m/s. This method was used on one of the world’s first offshore windfarms, the Horns Rev 1, constructed in the North Sea in 2002 by Dong Energy.

“The transportation to Walney Offshore Windfarms is currently taking place with the two tailor-made service vessels, situated in Barrow. We have however been in contact with a UK-based helicopter service company working to develop helicopter transportation services, and assisted the same company in developing an operational manual for the Irish Sea region where our wind park is and allowed them to conduct practice flights to one of our wind turbines.

“These practice flights are to enable the helicopter company to gain Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval for helicopter transfers.

“Dong Energy are still investigating the possibility of helicopter transfers but it is unlikely to happen at Walney until the helicopter company is licensed to do so and when we are satisfied that it is a viable option.”

Vattenfall, which owns the Ormonde development, is also looking at helicopter transfer.

Bosses said they would assess the need for helicopter transfer on a “case by case basis” and may begin using the new method of transfer in the next 12 months but the preferred option was still vessel transfer.

[jayteeto]

What a great idea. I would hope they try a company with experience of doing this Sort of thing :ok::ok:

[ericferret]

That would be NHV then!!!!!

[tigerfish]

This is not new!

I can confirm that over three years ago I was aware that at least three different operators were looking at the concept of using the EC135 to deliver engineers directly to the "pods" of giant wind turbines off shore. I am equally certain that if those three companies were looking at using the EC135, then other competitors were probably looking at using other types too.

tigerfish

[rotorrookie]

Helicopters Used to Fix Giant Wind Turbines (http://gizmodo.com/5124265/helicopters-used-to-fix-giant-wind-turbines)

[TeeS]

I think Uni-Fli were doing rather more than 'looking at the concept' three years ago tigerfish :-)

Cheers

TeeS

[lowfat]

Thought NHV were a Belgan AOC.... ergo not British based.....

Standing by to be proved wrong and publicly vilified.

[tigerfish]

As I said, this is not new. Its been going on for years.

tigerfish

[jayteeto]

Rotor Rookies article looks good. Shows a Bond Air Services 135 already in use in the UK. With trained crews and 'flight engineers/winch ops' already available, they must have a head start. :ok:

[lowfat]

365 n3 have a look

NHV - Helicopter winching on a windmill - YouTube

[fkelly]

Anyone able to indicate what power margins NHV are using in their safety case for WTG winching? The 365, even the N3, is way below the 135 in terms of HOGE OEI.

[Brilliant Stuff]

Uni-Fly have done 18.000 winch transfers since 2001 without a single incident.
They also have perfected a system of getting injured personell of the wind turbine by helicopter using the boatlanding platform. I am told some "experts" at the recent Helitech said you can't do that........

Bond et all have all gone to Uni-Fly to learn how it should be done...