e-Poster: Cost-Efficient Mass Production of Offshore-Wind-Jackets Requires New Industrial Solutions
(Room Station 2)
23 Oct 19
1:30 PM
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1:45 PM
Tracks:
Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Salzgitter Mannesmann Renewables created an approach to reduce production cost for Jackets that includes the utilization of standardized tubes and the serial production of Jackets based upon automated pre-fabrication of components. Standardized tubes made in a serial production line offers cost benefits or around 10-20% compared to current tailor-made pipes made by JCO or three roll bending procedure. In addition, higher dimensional accuracy leads to reductions in fitting and welding costs as well as reduced failure rates during production. Additional benefits by using pre-fabricated of components, in particular X- and K-nodes, produced by robotized welding technology and serial assembly utilizing automatic welding procedures for circumferential joints lead to a significant reduction in overall Jacket production time and cost. To date, various full-scale automatic welding trials of K- and X-nodes has proven these cost reductions are possible. In order to investigate the cost competitiveness of the overall approach, an extensive study has been carried out against point to point fabricated Jackets. The outcome of this study shows a significant cost reduction of more than 10% in the main jacket structure. However, to fully realize the major cost savings of a serial produced jacket foundation, the Jacket design needs to fit within the limits of automatic manufacturing and utilize standardized tubes to guarantee the lowest cost solution.