TWI has partnered with Member companies LIC Energy, EDF Energy and Ørsted (formerly DONG), along with Wilton Engineering Services, Universal Coatings and Metallisation to work on a 12 month project to investigate low-cost corrosion management for offshore wind turbines.
The £1.2 million project, Cost Reduction for Offshore Wind Now (CROWN), was funded by Innovate-UK and is developing a lower cost corrosion management system for offshore wind turbines based on a thermally sprayed aluminium (TSA) coating as an alternative to conventional protection based on paint and anodes.
The CROWN project is innovating in four areas:
• Demonstrating that a service life of 25 years can be achieved even if the TSA coating is subjected to mechanical damage.
• Numerical design modelling incorporating TSA and lifecycle cost modelling.
• Assessment of mechanical piling damage and mudline corrosion assessment.
• Manufacturing sequence and productivity.
TWI’s Henry Begg will present key outcomes from the project at the 4th International Conference on Corrosion Protection for Offshore Wind in Bremen in March, 2018. In addition, LIC Energy’s Luke Fussell and Diego Cocco will be running a workshop at the conference on the optimum corrosion protection solution for offshore wind farms.
The project, whose quick completion speaks of the quality of the consortium involved, was commended at the 2017/18 Rushlight Awards for its ‘strength and outstanding nature.’
You can find out more about TWI’s work in corrosion as well as TWI's work in surface engineering and advanced materials, or please contact us for more details.