The application of systems engineering within
the offshore wind energy production
1st Semester Mini-Project
M.Sc. in Risk and Safety
Management
Aalborg University-Esbjerg
Niels Bohrs Vej 8, 6700 Esbjerg.
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Title page
Systems Engineering
Course title:
The application of systems engineering within the offshore wind energy production.
Project title:
Aalborg University-Esbjerg
University:
M.Sc. in Risk and Safety Management
Education:
1st semester
Semester:
Anders Schmidt Kristensen
Supervisors:
Md. Al-Helal
Student Name:
Project Hand-in date: 11th December,
2023 Number of pages:22
Abstract
The object of the mini-project was to examine the application of systems engineering within the
offshore wind energy production in the Danish floating offshore wind farm named the Horns Rev 3
and to establish a system overview regarding this farm. Besides this, a stakeholder analysis,
functional requirements analysis with respect to maintenance of the subsea infrastructure were
discussed.
The systems engineering principles were followed as a guideline to solve the above problems for
the entire project.Different requirements analysis were analyzed both in MS excel and MS
word.Two subsystem,namely the turbine and the substation with respect to shared resources were
elaborated,identified for the full operation of the plant smoothly and thus enabling cost-benefit
analysis and preventing environmental damages.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………..3
2. Problem Definition………………………………………………………………...3
3. Problem Analysis………………………………………………………………….4
3.1 System Overview/Map of Horns Rev 3 Description…………………………4
3.2 Requirements Analysis of Horns Rev 3………………………………………8
3.3 Stakeholder Analysis for Horns Rev 3……………………………………….14
3.4 Interface between two subsystems of Horns Rev 3………………………...19
4. Methodology…………………………………………………………………20
5. Discussion……………………………………………………………………21
6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...21
7. References………………………………………………………………….. 22
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1. Introduction:
The systems engineering is defined as an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses the entire
technical effort, and evolves into and verifies an integrated and life cycle balanced set of system
people, products, and process solutions that satisfy customer needs.In this report, the system,
floating offshore wind turbine Horns Rev 3,is introduced which is built by a Swedish giant
energy company Vattenfall, is the owner (100% share), developer and operator with a budget
execution $1.3 billion.The owner of the offshore transmission is Energinet.dk.The site was
fully- commissioned on the date of 22nd August,2019 and was earning revenue DKK 770/MWh.
The plant consists of 49 turbines with a power output of 8.3 megawatt each, resulting in a total
power output of 406.7 megawatt. The wind farm occupies an wind area of 88km², with the
distance between turbines are 1.1km and 1.5km.The turbines were installed in average 19 m
water depth on steel monopile coated foundations with protective paint and installed with
sacrificial anodes to prevent corrosion.Turbines are connected to a substation by 49 inter-array
cables in 12 strings.The ports Esbjerg and Thyboron are used for this
installation,commissioning and operation.
2. Problem Definition:
Demonstrate/examine the application of systems engineering within the offshore wind energy
production.
How to create a system overview/map for Horns Rev 3 in Denmark?
How to perform a stakeholder analysis for Horns Rev 3?
How to perform a requirements analysis for Horns Rev 3 - Outline minimum 1-5
requirements in excel with respect to maintenance of the subsea infrastructure?
Based on the system map - select an interface between 2 sub-systems to discuss with
respect to the concept of Shared Resources.
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3. Problem Analysis:
3.1 System Overview/Map for Horns Rev3
Description
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1. Site Location:
The renowned offshore wind Farm Horns Rev 3 is situated in the North Sea, 25-40 km of the
Danish Jutland Coast. Its latitude and longitude are 55° 42' 10.8" and 7° 41' 20.4"
respectively.The area coverage and distance from the shore are 116 km 2 and 20 km
respectively.
2. Foundations: The foundations are basically monopiles, i.e. pipes of up to average 54
metres in length driven into the seabed. They are 6.5 metres in diameter and weigh up to
just over 600 tonnes each in average. The total specifications of monopile foundation are
given underneath in the table:
Monopile foundation Technical specifications
Outer Diameter 6.0-8.0m
Pile Length 50-70m
Weight 700-1000t
Ground Penetration (below mud line) 28-35m
Total pile weight 36,500- 52,000t
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Turbines:
The power plant has 49 turbines with a swept area of 21.12m²,in total with a capacity of 8.3
MW each,rotor diameter 164 m, hub height 105.6 m above sea level, turbine height is 187 m
above sea level.
3.Components:
The turbine has totally 147 blades with length 80m, nacelle consists of gearbox,shafts with
bearing, generator and brake. Its dimension is 20.7m-long, 8.7m-wide, and 9.3m-high and
weighs 390t.Components also includes with 1 tower and 1 foundation.
4.Material Selection:
Component type Material name Weight per ton
Nacelle 390 t ± 10% (incl hub)
Steel/Glass Reinforced
Plastic
Hub Cast Iron -
Blade Glass Reinforced Plastic 33 t per blade
Tower Steel 340 t
Helipad Galvanised Steel or Alloy
Weight included on the
Nacelle and Hub.
5. Submarine Cables :
A 220 kV (maximum voltage is 245 kV) transmission cable are
installed from the offshore transformer station and to the connection point on land at
Blåbjerg Substation. The length of the transmission cable is app. 34 km.The cables are
hosed down 1m into the seabed to ensure the best possible protection against damage.
6. Mooring System:
In case of an ideal mooring system,it consists of a yellow spar buoy, two
anchors ( 90 kg ang 600kg weight) and an inflatable yellow marking ball at the sea surface.This
anchor stones are connected each other via a Taifun steel wire lying on the seabed.The distance
between the buoy and the marker ball is approximately 50 m. The
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spar buoy is connected with two radar reflectors (one built-in and on external) with a
warning cross and a solar lamp flashing five times every 20 seconds.
7. Substation:
The electricity generated by the turbines is transferred through cables to the
transformer platform installed with three 33/220kV transformers.It is built onshore via
34km long 220kV export cables to the existing substation at Endrup.
8. Grid Connection Infrastructure:
The substation collecting power from the turbines has
been installed by Energinet.dk, which has also completed the 105km of array cable that
carries the power to land and to Endrup, east of Esbjerg, in Denmark.
9. Control System:
The three cores and one earth connection,the cables are containing
optical fibre lines used primarily to monitor and control the turbines remotely from
Vattenfall's surveillance centre in Esbjerg through Remotely Operated Vehicles.
10. Inspection and Maintenance:
Inspection and maintenance are running of the offshore wind turbine on
daily/weekly/quarterly/monthly/yearly basis by both operator’s own
technicians,Energinet.dk and Vestas technicians.
11. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA):
Before running the project,some Environmental Impact Assessment was done like air
pollution,noise pollution (
aerodynamic and mechanical), Fauna analysis, sea waste management etc. to preserve the
marine ecosystem without hampering their habitat both in the sea and the sky for
birds.
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12. Stakeholder Assistance:
Different stakeholders like MHI Vestas, GeoSea, A2SEA, Energinet.dk, Prysmian,
VBMS,Seaproof, Blue Water are assisting each other from the
very beginning for smooth operation and maintenance of the plant till now.
13. Power Generation:
Danish transmission system operator Energinet.dk is responsible for the
entire transmission of the power generation 406.7 MW to the east Esbjerg.
14. Socio-Economic Impact:
It has created a large number of job opportunities after it gas
begun its operation til now not only in Esbjerg but also thorough the country.Thus it is
increasing country’s GDP per year.
15. Comply with industry standards and regulation:
The Horns Rev 3 tried to cover in the legislative approaches in regard to construction,
operation, safety and crew competence of vessels and
relevant industry standards provided by Danish Maritime Authority.
3.2 Requirements Analysis of Horns Rev 3:
Requirements are the primary focus in the systems engineering process because the process’s
primary purpose is to transform the requirements into designs. The process develops these
designs within the constraints. They must be verified to meet both the requirements and
constraints.
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Types of Requirements
Requirements are categorized in several ways. The following are common categorizations of
requirements that relate to technical management:
(i)Customer Requirements:
(ii)Functional Requirements:
(iii)Performance Requirements:
(iv)Design Requirements:
(v)Allocated or Execution Requirements:
In this report, above (i) to (v) requirements are outlined underneath in both MS excel and MS
word with respect to maintenance of the undersea infrastructure.
Customer Requirements:
It is defined as the expectations of the system in terms of mission objectives,
environment, constraints, and measures of effectiveness and suitability . The
customers are those that perform the eight primary functions of systems engineering ,
with special emphasis on the operator as the key customer. Customer Requirements
include 8 primary life cycle functions namely Development,
Manufacturing/Production/Construction, Deployment (Fielding), Operation, Support,
Disposal, Training and Verification.
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Functional Requirements:
It is the necessary task, action or activity that must be accomplished. Functional (what has to be
done) requirements identified in requirements analysis are used as the top level functions for
functional analysis.
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Performance Requirements:
It is the extent to which a mission or function must be executed; generally measured in terms
of quantity, quality, coverage, timeliness or readiness. During requirements analysis,
performance (how well does it have to be done) requirements are interactively developed
across all identified functions based on system life cycle factors.
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Design Requirements:
The design requirements include “build to,” “code to,” and “buy to” requirements for
products and “how to execute” requirements for processes expressed in technical data
packages and technical manuals.
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Execution requirements:
It includes Development (cost, lifetime),Production (safety, quality, environment),Testing
(acceptance, capacity),Transportation (size, weight, infrastructure),Operation (energy,
materials, automation),Installation (size, weight, accessibility),Maintenance (downtime,
lifetime) and Decommissioning (removal, recycling).
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3.3 Stakeholder Analysis for Horns Rev 3
Stakeholder analysis is considered a useful strategic tool for a company to identify current and
future collaboration opportunities as well as potential threats from its respective stakeholders
and how best to handle them. So, to ensure better management, the Horns Rev3 operator
should focus on how to coordinate and manage the stakeholders. Stakeholder is defined any
group or individual who can affect, or is affected by, the achievement of a project
objectives.Here Stakeholder is analyzed so-called two-by-two power/interest
matrix.Stakeholders are categorized by their levels of power and interest on the project.They
are divided into four groups:
1. Players (Manage Closely):
They have both high interest and high power to influence the project.In this case, as the owner
invests the capital and also hires the operators, they
have high power and high interest in the Horns Rev 3 project. The Turbine supplier has also
high interest and high power on regular maintenance service as the optimum power
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production vastly depends on the efficiency of Maintenance and close co-operation
between operator and Turbine Supplier. Uninterrupted power supply also vastly depends
on the Operator’s own mechanic which gives them high power and high interest in
keeping their employment. The operator chooses maintenance service port for the whole
Operational phase (25 years) which gives the Port facility high interest. If there is any
problem with port facilities, that will definitely affect the whole activities of the plant, so
Port Facility also has high power to influence the power plant. Subcontractors’ labour
companies are in business due to the rapid expansion of the offshore wind industry.
Therefore, they have high power and influence on the project.At last, to ensure the
successful Operation and Maintenance services,Vessel supplier is necessary and as there
is a shortage of Vessel Supplier on the market, they are provided with high interest and
high power to influence the total project.
2.Subjects (Keep satisfied):
They have high interest but low power regarding the project.
The Governmental Organization has high power as they are the only party that orders and
executes the public legislation regarding any type of Offshore Floating Wind Farm.
Besides this, Governmental Organization has low influence on the Horns Rev 3 as the
business is run by the private sector and they are neither responsible for profit nor
economic loss. Industrial Agency has high interest because it always works for the labour,
subcontractor’s labour and their income source comes from these parties.Thus, Industrial
Agency has low power on the Horns Rev 3 as they are not directly or indirectly involved
in this project.
3.Context Setters (Keep informed):
They have high power but low interest toward the project.
The Grid Owner has high power because every year the maintenance operator must
provide documentation on the required service target as per turbine supplier, but Grid
Owner has low interest maintenance activities, because if the production fails Grid Owner
will get power from other sources or other companies.
4. Crowd (Monitor with minimum effort):
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They have low interest and low power to the
project. In this project, Component supplier and Onshore service provider are placed in the
crowd group as they have low interest and low power on the operator’s decision making process
because there are sufficient suppliers available in the market who can provide these services at
any time
Context Setters Players
High Keep Satisfied: Manage Closely: Owner:
Grid Owner: Energinet.dk Vattenfall Turbine Supplier:Vestas
Govermental organization: Esbjerg Vessel Supplier Operator’s
Municipality, Danish Energy Agency
Environmental Protection Agency Danish Technician Port Facility
Maritime Authority Danish Transport Local Fishing Company
Power Authority
Danish Wind Energy Association Danish
Working Enviroment Authority Danish
Workforce Agency
Police
Monitor with minimum effort: Keep Informed: Esbjerg
Onshore Service Provider Component harbor residents Subcontractor’s
Supplier labour Industrial Agency: Trade
Union
International Labour
Organization Northsea offshore
Low Service Group Tourist Association
Local Universities Local
Media Competitors
Low Crowd Interest Subjects
High 16
Owner
The owner is the key stakeholder of the project as the owner controls the business through hiring
an operator. It is noticed that there are two ways of being involved as the owner in an Floating
Offshore Wind Turbine. Firstly, a full ownership which means a company owns 100% share of a
project. In this case Vattenfall owns 100% share of the Horns Rev 3.Secondly, there are other
cases where a single owner initially made an investment and started the operation, and after a
couple of years the initial investor invites other investors to invest in the ongoing project.
Turbine supplier
MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is the turbine supplier for Horns Rev 3.The turbine supplier involves
the operator’s own technicians during the warranty period which is considered the training phase
for the operator’s own technicians and as such time for them to develop the required Operational
and Maintenance skills to enable them to take over the responsibility after the warranty period
ends. After the turbine supplier´s warranty contract ends, the owner’s operator takes over the
responsibility.
Operator’s own technicians
Every operator has his own technicians to work in the project which is especially required after
the 5 years’ warranty period. However, it is very expensive for the operators to hire own staff,
therefore, outsourcing is widely utilized to minimize the costs (e.g. servicing of cranes, lifts, high
voltage equipment).
Subcontractor’s manpower
Skilled manpower is needed to maintain the various parts of the wind turbine such as bolt
tightening, high voltage service, crane service, emergency equipment service etc.These service
tasks could be performed by the operators’ own manpower or could be outsourced to reduce the
costs.The big sub-contractors can also provide complete service (by utilizing their own
technicians, providing spare parts, vessels, crane etc.) to fix the fault.
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Onshore service provider
Any offshore Wind turbine work task must be well integrated with onshore facilities. In the
service port the operator has his own warehouse where the onshore service provider performs
various services such as waste handling, cleaning, catering which need to be performed on a
regular basis to ensure effective maintenance activities.
Vessel supplier
Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV), helicopters are emergentl to any offshore wind turbine plant. To
reduce the cost, the operator normally subcontracts the service vessels. There are several private
companies in Denmark (e.g. A2SEA, Fred Olsen) who supply CTV, crane vessels, hotel vessels
and helicopters.
Component supplier
Component suppliers (e.g. MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, Siemens) can deliver spare parts (for
instance,gearbox, blade bearings and switchgears etc.), tools and safety quipment within the
warranty period.MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is responsible for delivering these components.
After the warranty period, the owner’s operator takes over the responsibility to purchase these
components and they can purchase the components from any suppliers.
Governmental organization
The Danish Energy Agency is the key governmental organization for the licensing of the
offshore wind turbine.Besides this,Danish Wind Energy Association and Police usually inspect
the plant for the labour welfare and criminal offense respectively.
Port facility
The floating offshore wind turbine operator and the supplier need to use port facility not only to
transfer the turbines,technicians etc. from onshore to offshore, but also for transferring various
types of equipment both in operation and maintenance.
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Grid owner
The grid connection is crucial for the distribution of the produced electricity. It is the sole
responsibility of the grid owner (e.g. Energinet.dk) to ensure that the grid connection works
properly.
Industrial agency
This association works closely with political leaders to facilitate the growth of the offshore wind
farm industry.
3.4 Interface between two subsystems of Horns Rev 3
Based on the system map-the connection between the Turbine subsystem and the Substation
subsystem with respect to concept of shared resources are discussed here.The term shared
resources are defined as an amalgamation work between different stakeholders in order to
make maintenance more cost-effective and efficient.
Maintenance could be segregated into two parts-
(i)Preventive Maintenance: It includes actions before the system breakdown.
(ii)Corrective Maintenance: It includes actions after the system breakdown such as worn
components, replacements etc.
For the maintenance purpose mainly two types of Vessels are incorporated namely-
Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV):It is used to transfer technicians from port to offshore wind farm.
Service Operation Vessel (SOV): It is used to transfer both technicians and spare parts.They
can stay longer period than CTV.
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The stakeholder MHI Vestas is the solely responsible for the turbine maintenance whereas the
stakeholder Energinet.dk is the fully responsible for the maintenance of the substation.These two
stakeholders may share their resources to ensure the plant efficiency and flawless operation.
In case of substation maintenance,MHI Vestas may provide to Energinet.dk their
technicians,expertise,guidance and even spare parts like breather, horn gap arrester, capacitor,
circuit breaker etc. for the maintenance purposes as they are dependent each otherfor the whole
system in operation.Both stakeholders may monitor the plant performance as well as substation
equipment namely switchgear, busbar, lightning arrester,insulator, PFI, earthing system etc.
collaboratively to identify faults and maintenance actions.
On the other hand,Energinet.dk may supply to MHI Vestas their technical staff,
expertises,logistic support,tools etc. in case of turbine maintenance such as repairs and
troubleshooting.Together they can share their data to understand the impacts of the substation
operation.
These collaborative strategies may ameliorate the environmental impact associated with the
maintenance of both substation and turbine.Thus they may enhance maintenance protocols with
the improvement of maintenance efficiency and equipment longevity.
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4. Methodology:
This mini-project is made within the framework of problem based learning(PBL).The PBL based
project gives me opportunities to find real life problems and examine them.At first, a
brainstorming session was initiated with the goal of identifying the subsystem involved in the
analysis of stakeholder,requirements analysis and an interface between two subsystems with
respect to shared resources.Finally,both qualitative and quantitative data were used for the
analysis of this project.Another important factor was the feedback from the supervisor,who
guided me to the right way.
5. Discussion:
Firstly,in this project report a system map of floating offshore wind turbine Horns Rev 3 was
created through brainstorming and different online sources.Secondly, a stakeholder analysis for
this plant was performed through the brainstorming session with other group members.Thirdly,
a requirements analysis considering the undersea components of this farm was done with five
key requirements.Finally, an interface was selected between the 2-subsystems based on the
system map discussed considering the shared resources.Overall,the application of systems
engineering within the Horns Rev 3 was demonstrated successfully.
6. Conclusion:
The conclusion of the report is that Horns Rev 3 in Denmark as a system considering the
systems engineering principles concept was examined thoroughly which can play a significant
economic role by providing country’s energy sector fossil-fuel free with an enormous amount
of electricity.The description of the project is limited due to its bindings as a mini-
project.Otherwise, it could be a great source of research for a large project.Therefoe, further
research could be feasible regarding Horns Rev 3 in the future.
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7. References:
[1] https://www.nkt.com/references/horns-rev-3-denmark
[2]https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Vindenergi/horns_rev_3_offshore_technical_project_description_2
8.04.201.pdf
[3] https://powerplants.vattenfall.com/horns-rev-3/
[4] https://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/denmark/horns-rev-3-denmark-dk19.html
[5] https://sal-heavylift.com/solutions/shipping/reference-projects/horns-rev-3
[6] https://www.dnv.com/news/dnv-gl-awards-project-certificate-to-vattenfall-s-horns-rev-3-offshore- wind-
farm-196524
[7] https://boskalis.com/media/n54bx1ys/horns-rev-3.pdf
[8] https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-
2005/6128a102c1a9b6dbd30f2fb18c12aa64_sefguide_01_01.pdf
[9] https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/horns-rev-3-offshore-wind- farm/#:~:text=Horns%20Rev
%203%20is%20a,%2Downed%20power%20company%2C%20Vattenfa ll.
[10] https://www.thewindpower.net/windfarm_en_16854_horns-rev-3.php
[11] https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Vindenergi/marine_mammals_v3.pdf
[12] https://www.climatechangecareers.com/job/vestas/esbjerg-denmark/service-technician/
[13] https://portesbjerg.dk/en/news/how-horns-rev-3-will-be-completed
[14] https://hssg.dk/en/offshore-en/
[15] https://renews.biz/50900/horns-rev-3-nears-finish-line/
[16] https://www.offshorewind.biz/2019/08/06/vattenfall-chooses-horns-rev-3-om-base/
[17] https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Vindenergi/nav_risk_analysis_v3_final.pdf
[18] https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Vindenergi/commercial_fisheries_v4.pdf
[19] https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Vindenergi/air_emissions_v6.pdf
[20] https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Vindenergi/noise_offshore_v3.pdf
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