Dominique Roddier's research while affiliated with PRINCIPLE POWER and other places

This paper investigates the techno-economic feasibility of integrating a desalination system to an offshore wind farm. The first part of the paper involves a proposal for the design of a desalination system fitted inside the WindFloat Atlantic hull. Taking into account of the power, footprint, volume and weight requirements of the desalination system, the desalination capacity is chosen to be 10,000 m3/d per platform2. A 3D model of the system is also presented. The second part of the paper focuses on the development of an economic model that gives as output the levelized cost of water (LCOW) for the studied technology. At first, a methodology to estimate capital expenditure (Capex) and operational expenditure (Opex) of an offshore desalination system with the above-mentioned characteristics is presented. Then, three locations with high wind speeds and with frequent exposure to droughts (Gran Canaria, California and South Africa) are chosen and the model is applied. Particularly interesting results are found for Gran Canaria, isolated system with favorable conditions (high electricity price, high water production cost and good offshore wind resource).

The state of California stands at a crossroads where many different enablers are now coming together to spur its leadership in a new offshore wind energy industry off the west coast of the US. This paper presents the rationale for this new industry to be built from the ground up and elaborates on the development efforts recently undertaken by Principle Power Inc. (PPI) to jumpstart this important opportunity. The paper will first focus on the unique value proposition offshore wind offers to the Golden State and discuss the path the company has taken to accelerate the development of the offshore wind industry along the coast, with the proposition of a flagship project in Humboldt County.

It is now widely accepted that, due to significant economies of scale, the levelized cost of energy in offshore wind industry decreases as the turbine size and rated power increases. For offshore wind turbines, fixed and floating foundations can be quite complimentary when sites span a large water depth range. This paper presents the new WindFloat semisubmersible design supporting a 10MW generic wind turbine made by DTU [1]. This study evaluates the initial global performance of the WindFloat 10MW hull. In addition, RAO and frequency domain accelerations at the nacelle are presented. A comparison of the OpenFAST model, that we plan to use in all the future analysis, will be conducted against the benchmarked OrcaFAST model used by PPI and validated against the WindFloat prototype [2].

The WindFloat prototype is a semisubmersible type foundation supporting a 2 MW, 3 bladed, horizontal axis Vestas V-80 turbine. The 8-year project is near its completion. After 3 years of planning, engineering and fabrication, the prototype was installed in 2011 in the northern Portugal Atlantic waters. Following 5 years of operations and electricity production, the unit was decommissioned in the summer of 2016. This paper retraces the prototype project going back to the early objectives, focusing on its 5-year performance and lessons learned. The overall assessment of the impact of the prototype on the incoming pre-commercial projects is discussed. Some emphasis is placed on both the decommissioning of the unit and the economics of the project, as these have not yet been published.

In this chapter, a review of some of the prototype FOWT devices that have been deployed to-date is presented. The technologies overviewed throughout the chapter are: Principle Power’s semisubmersible WindFloat device; the Hywind spar under development by Statoil; the Goto Island project in Japan and the SWAY system.

The flow-induced vibration fatigue of an array of tubes is a complex problem of practical significance in the offshore oil and gas industry. Simple analytical tools for analyzing isolated tubes lack the capability of directly addressing the array problem, so they require some sort of calibration if they are to be used for this application. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and coupled computational fluid-structure interaction programs can also be utilized to address the problem in more detail, but at a significant cost in computing time. In either case, understanding of the phenomena is limited, and relatively little relevant data are available to verify the accuracy of these programs for this application. This paper documents a physical model test performed at the University of California-Berkeley Richmond Field Station Tow Basin with the following objectives: to improve confidence in the understanding of the dynamic performance and fatigue demand on both bare and straked tubes in an arrayed configuration; to estimate the influence of an external super-structure (e.g., the truss section of a floating truss spar platform) on the vibrations of the tubes in the array; and, to generate data for verification or calibration of state-of-the-art or emerging analysis tools. The findings provide new, useful information on both the fatigue of tubes in complex configurations and the effectiveness of suppression devices in these scenarios for fatigue mitigation.

The installation of an offshore platform on the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States, whether for oil extraction or to support a renewable energy device, is regulated by U.S. federal and state legislations. The WindFloat Pacific Project, a US Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project which intends to install at least three floating wind turbines (FWTs) off of the US Pacific coast, needs to follow acceptable standards of design, construction and operation to obtain its permits and move forward. However, due to the novelty of FWTs such as the WindFloat, there is no explicit guidance as to which standards apply to various aspects of the project. The simple answer would be to follow guidelines for similar platforms, such as the units engaged in offshore oil and gas exploration and production. However, after the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in 2010, the oversight of the use of the Outer Continental Shelf was split between Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for renewable offshore energy and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) for petroleum activities. Additionally, oil production and drilling platforms are manned structures, which also fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard. WindFloats, like most offshore renewable energy structures, are unmanned, thus requiring entirely different approaches to platform access, personnel and platform safety. Additionally, for not handling hydrocarbons or other hazardours chemicals and substances, FWTs present signifcantly less risk to the environment in terms of marine pollution. WindFloats are steel structures of semi-submersible type supporting a wind turbine and tower, and are stationary units permanently moored to the seabed through chains and anchors. They are installed in a farm setting. In a commercial scale project, wind farms may consist of 50 identical structures installed within a pre-defined zone. In contrast, oil and gas platforms often operate individually and are custom built for the location and type of operation. As such, not all standards and requirements applied to offshore oil and gas facilities would directly apply to FWTs. Since the regulations do not cover all technical aspects, an alternative suite of standards and requirements must be defined to address the specific characteristics and risk profile of these units. To achieve that, existing national and international standards, as well as class guidelines, are reviewed and applicable sections are identified. This work is performed in cooperation with BOEM, representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), BSEE, the classification society and proposed Certified Verification Agent for the WindFloats, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and representatives from the Wind and Water Program of the DOE. This paper will identify those areas where alternative standards are needed for review by regulatory agencies, due to the specific function of the FWT. It will also present the alternate regulatory compliance process to be applied for the acceptance of these standards and the definition of the compliance scheme.

The offshore wind energy industry at its current development stage is relatively limited by water depth and soil constraints. This chapter concentrates on the new frontier of the off-shore wind power industry, the deep-water areas, where the water depth exceeds 50-60 m. The transition of the offshore wind power from shallow water to deep-water sites will be assessed as a potential significant part of our future energy mix. Peripheral constraints that affect the siting of floating wind turbines will be examined, including social, environmental, and practical considerations. Then, the chapter presents an overview of the current state of the art in the offshore wind energy and defines the numerous technical and engineering challenges associated with these innovative floating wind turbine designs. Finally, the various generic types of technologies currently under development will be described and the cutting edge of nascent floating wind energy technologies will be discussed.

There are potential offshore applications where renewable energy and more distributed power sources could supplement or replace costly equipment upgrades for additional power supply, or costly fuel operating costs. Renewable energy technologies can also be employed in lieu of expensive power umbilicals to provide power to subsea pumps for long distance tiebacks in deepwater. For example, power umbilicals alone required to provide 69kV to subsea pumps in deepwater could be upwards of $300MM for 100 mile long distance tie-backs. A renewable energy source, with storage, integrated into that system could significantly reduce both the CAPEX and OPEX costs. In 2013, Chevron performed an in-depth evaluation of a Renewable Energy plus Compressed Air Energy Storage and Regeneration system for a 2.6MW application. For the purpose of that study, a floating wind turbine in 365m water depth off the coast of Oregon was evaluated as the energy source as the base case. The system was found to be feasible with initial CAPEX costs replaced within 12 years of operations as compared to installation of a diesel power generation system and the requisite fuel required to run the equipment. This paper provides a description of the OCAES system, and discusses potential applications in support of the offshore oil and gas industry. Copyright © 2015 by ASME Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal

This paper summarizes the hydrodynamic work that was performed on the Robinson R66 helicopter’s water emergency landings as part of the roadmap to obtain FAA approval. The emergency system consists of two floats that are rapidly inflated as soon as the helicopter touches the water using gas from a high pressure cylinder. This type of design is common in the helicopter industry and is known as a “pop out” float system. The floats have already been shown to provide enough buoyancy to keep the helicopter afloat in calm water. Recognizing that once the helicopter is in the water, it is subjected to wave forces and behaves as a small water craft, a numerical study was performed using OrcaFlex. Over 500 numerical simulations, each lasting 10 minutes, of the helicopter floating in different wave environments were performed. The helicopter’s 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) motions were monitored throughout. At the end of the run, if the helicopter had not capsized, the run would report: “no capsizing”. Sensitivity studies were performed by varying parameters individually. This led to an understanding of each parameter’s effects on the overall helicopter floating performance. These parameters included: wind, wave period, initial helicopter relative heading against the waves, wave height, and simulation seed (different random wave sets with the same spectral characteristics). The FAA expects floatation characteristics to be evaluated in “reasonably probable” water conditions and has issued guidance that World Meteorological Organization (WMO) sea state 4 is one acceptable definition of reasonably probable. A wind speed of up to 21 knots is also associated with sea state 4. Copyright © 2014 by ASME Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal