Høvik (Oslo), Norway 28 February, 2008: The second DNV Offshore Wind Seminar was held on Thursday, 28 February at the DNV headquarters at Høvik (Oslo), Norway. The title of this year's seminar was “Offshore Wind Farm Project Design and Development - Risk Management and Certification”.
Risk management of offshore wind farm projects plays an essential role in addressing the complexity and uncertainties of this new type of energy plant development. The complexity for the owner/developer has increased with the change from the turnkey model to multi-contracting, where the project components and responsibilities are divided among several parties. The development of a complete and consistent basis for the overall design is very often an iterative process involving all the parties, each with an interest in narrowing their responsibility.
One of DNV’s essential certification roles is to bridge the responsibilities of the various parties and ensure consistency and reliability throughout project. The seminar was an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss how offshore wind farm risks can be managed and how we can help stakeholders to manage these risks successfully. The seminar included presentations from developers, owners and technology experts with extensive experience in the offshore wind area, including Vattenfall Wind Power AB, Dexia Kommunalbank Deutschland AG , EPC Management ApS, Npower Renewables, Siemens Wind Power A/S and DNV, and the following topics were discussed:
Key elements (life cycle) of wind farm project development
Technical risk assessment & mitigation of offshore wind farm projects
Lessons learned from key stakeholders
The role of certification.
The afternoon session included a panel discussion on multi-contract projects. The panel comprised representatives of Marsh Insurance, Dong Energy, BP Alternative Energy, Vestas Wind Systems and DNV, and the discussions were facilitated by Risø National Laboratory.
The seminar was a unique opportunity for stakeholders from various sides and phases in the development and operation of offshore wind farms to meet on neutral ground to discuss risks, interfaces and project implementation and how certification can mitigate the technical risks.
Date: 28 February 2008