This guide helps your build a simple Design O&M case, featuring 10 8-MW floating WTGs off the coast of Esbjerg, Denmark. 

As part of the guide, you will learn how to add a base, assets, and logistics. You will also set up simple scheduled and corrective maintenance tasks on your wind farm and add the required logistics. 

Step 1: Add a base

You will need to create bases in your Input Library before you can add them to a case. If necessary, perform the following steps in the Input Library first, then add the base to your case.
  1. Click on the Build tab. 
  2. Click on the Bases tab. 
  3. Click Add
  4. Choose Esbjerg.

A towing vessel will tow the wind turbines from the wind farm to the port for repair or replacement of a component. In case there is more than one repair slot, a crane will assist the floating turbines one at a time as they come to do the full repair or replacement.

Step 2: Configure your base 

Weather data is essential for the Shoresim simulation engine to model your Construction cases. You will need to add weather data to your base and your assets (step 3). 

  1. Click on the Esbjerg base card that you added to your case. 
  2. On the Parameters tab, for Repair slots, enter 5
  3. Click on the Weather tab. 
  4. Select a weather square for the base. Those which are coloured green have ERA-5 data pre-downloaded (so are quicker to load), but in either case it is possible to download ERA-5 weather data. Click on the square and select Use ERA5 data. This data should appear to the left.
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  5. Click Save to exit.

Step 3: Add and configure your assets

We’re going to add 10 instances of a single asset, an 8-MW WTG. On these assets, we’re going to add a scheduled maintenance task and two corrective maintenance tasks, one minor and one major, which requires the turbine to be towed to port. 

  1. Click on the Assets tab. 
  2. Click Add
  3. Select an asset on the Wind turbine tab by clicking on the Add instance(s) to case button. If there isn’t an 8-MW asset, add a generic one. 
  4. In the Number of Wind turbines to add input, enter 10 
  5. Click Define site area
  6. Click Mark corners on map
  7. Mark a location off the coast of Esbjerg.
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  8. Click Populate site.  
  9. Click Next.  
  10. Click on the Parameters tab.  
  11. Make sure Rated power is 8 and the Nacelle height is 100 m. 
  12. Click on the Weather Criteria tab. 
  13. Click Add entry
  14. Enter the following criteria: 
    • Title: Work in nacelle 
    • Max wind speed: 18 m/s 
    • Wind speed reference height: 100
  15. Click on the Weather tab.  
  16. Select a weather square for the asset and click Use ERA5 data. This data should appear to the left. 

Add a scheduled maintenance task

Scheduled maintenance involves work orders which are released on a fixed recurrence. Downtime occurs on the affected turbine only during repair time. You can define the yearly recurrence of scheduled maintenance tasks and choose a yearly distribution, meaning whether the maintenance occurs across all asset instances or only on a fixed percentage.

  1. Click on the Scheduled maintenance tab. 
  2. Click Add scheduled maintenance on the left side. 
  3. Enter the following settings: 
    • Name: Annual inspection 
    • Recurrence: 1 year 
    • Production impact during work: 100 
    • Limitations: Check Work in nacelle.
    • Vessel: Check Crew Transfer Vessel and Service Operation Vessel
    • Personnel: Service technician x 2 
    • Total person hours: 24
  4. Click Save.

Add minor and major corrective maintenance tasks

Corrective maintenance tasks are unscheduled maintenance work which occurs according to a time-to-failure distribution that you can define according to the Shoreline failure modelling specifications

Corrective maintenance is used to mode major component replacements (MCRs), which require towing the affected turbine to port. We will model an MCR as the second maintenance task in the instructions below. 

  1. Click on the Corrective maintenance tab. 
  2. Click Add Corrective Maintenance
  3. Enter the following details: 
    • Title: Minor corrective 
    • Severity: Critical 
      • Critical failures produce downtime from the moment of failure; non-critical failures do not (but do during maintenance work). 
    • Lifetime distribution: Exponential 
    • Annual failure rate: 1 
    • Production curtailment during work: 100 
    • Vessel: Check Crew Transfer Vessel
    • Limitations: Check Work in nacelle
    • Personnel: Service technician x 2 
    • Total person hours: 12
  4. Click Add Corrective Maintenance
  5. Enter the following details for the MCR:

    • Title: MCR 

    • Severity: Critical 

    • Lifetime distribution: Exponential

    • Annual failure rate: 0.05 

    • Production curtailment during work: 100 

    • Vessel: Check Towing Vessel

    • Allow scheduled work while waiting: Check. 

    • Limitations: Check None

    • Repair time: 80

  6. Click Save.

Step 5: Add your logistics

In order to transport the necessary personnel to the wind farm to conduct the scheduled and minor corrective maintenance tasks, we need to add a crew transfer vessel (CTV) to our case. In addition, for the MCR, we’re going to need a towing vessel and a crane. 

Add an SOV

  1. Click on Logistics.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Click on Service operation vessel.
  4. Choose an SOV and click Add.
  5. Set the Off duty location to Esbjerg port using Place on map.
  6. Set the Port to Esbjerg.
  7. Click Add.
  8. Click on the Capacity tab.
  9. Set the Technician capacity to 40.
  10. Click on the Performance tab:
    • Cruising speed: 12
    • Dynamic positioning speed: 5
    • Dynamic positioning activation time: 30m
  11. Click on the Weather criteria tab:
    • Significant wave height access limit: 2.8
    • Wind speed access limit: 14
    • Wind speed limitation reference height: 100
  12. Click on the Activity durations tab:
    • Time between going to port: 14d
    • Connection time:10m
    • Disconnection time: 5m
    • Personnel transfer time per technician: 10m
    • Equipment transfer time: 10m
    • Mobilising time per port visit: 12h
    • Demobilising time per port visit: 12h
  13. Click Add.

Add a crew transfer vessel 

  1. Click on Logistics
  2. Click Add
  3. Choose a CTV. 
  4. Set the Port to Esbjerg
  5. Click Next
  6. Click on the Activity Durations tab. 
  7. Enter the following values: 
    • Connection time: 10m 
    • Disconnection time: 5m 
    • Personnel transfer time per technician: 5m 
    • Equipment transfer time: 10m 
    • Mobilising time per port visit: 30m
    • Demobilising time per port visit: 15m

  8. Click Add.

Add a towing vessel

  1. Click on Logistics
  2. Click Add
  3. Click on Towing vessel
  4. Choose a towing vessel to add. 
  5. Set the Port to Esbjerg
  6. Click Next
  7. Click on the Processes tab. 
  8. Enter the following: 
    • 2.0 Transit to asset: 
      • Speed: 10 
      • Wind speed: 12 
      • Wind speed ref. height: 10 
      • Significant wave height: 1,5 
    • 3.0 - Disconnect: 
      • Duration: 2 
      • Significant wave height: 1,5 
    • 4.0 - Tow to port: 
      • Speed: 4 
      • Wind speed: 8 
      • Wind speed ref. height: 10 
      • Significant wave height: 1,2 
    • 6.0 - Demobilisation towing in: 
      • Duration: 2 
      • Required weather window: 2 
    • 7.0 - Mobilisation towing out: 
      • Duration: 5 
      • Required weather window: 5 
    • 8.0 - Preparation for work towing out: 
      • Duration: 6 
    • 9.0 - Tow to windfarm: 
      • Speed: 4 
      • Wind speed: 8 
      • Wind speed ref. height: 10 
      • Significant wave height: 1,2 
    • 10.0 - Hookup: 
      • Duration: 5 
      • Significant wave height: 1,5 
    • 11.0 - Transit to next asset: 
      • Speed: 4 
      • Wind speed: 12 
      • Wind speed ref. height: 10 
      • Significant wave height: 1,2 
    • 12.0 - Transit to port: 
      • Speed: 10 
      • Wind speed: 12 
      • Wind speed ref. height: 10 
      • Significant wave height: 1,5 
    • 13.0 - Demobilisation towing out
      • Duration: 6 
      • Required weather window: 6 
    • Click Add

Add a crane

  1. Click on Logistics
  2. Click Add
  3. Click on Crane
  4. Choose a crane to add. 
  5. Set the Port to Esbjerg
  6. Click Next
  7. Click on the Performance tab. 
  8. For Transit speed, enter 5
  9. Click on Weather Criteria tab: 
    • Wind speed limit crane operation: 8 
    • Wind speed limitation reference height: 10 
  10. Click on Activity Durations
  11. Enter the following: 
    • Mobilising time: 1h 
    • Demobilising time: 1h 
    • Connection time: 30m 
    • Disconnection time: 30m 
  12. Click Add

Step 6: Add personnel 

Finally, we need personnel to carry out the maintenance tasks. In step 3, we specified that we need Service technicians to carry out the tasks, so we’ll create those now. 

  1. Click on the Personnel tab. 
  2. Click Add
  3. Enter the following: 
    • Group title: Service technicians 
    • Group type: Full time employees 
    • Members: 12 
    • Home base: Esbjerg 
    • Skills: Check Service technician.
  4. Click Save.

Step 7: Configure your strategy

Before running the simulation, we first need to complete some required parameters in the Strategy tab. Set the Emergency response limit to 45 and the Minimum working length to 1.

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Check Bundle work orders on assets (use the same team to carry out a set of work orders) and Redeploy personnel (this allows reuse of technicians offshore). 

Step 8: Run a simulation 

With our assets, logistics, personnel, and strategy configured, we’re now ready to run our simulation.

  1. Go to the Simulate tab. 
  2. Choose Historical Weather
  3. For the Start year, enter 2024
  4. Set the simulation run to 10 years. 
  5. Choose 5 runs.

  6. Click Run simulation.

You should have ten green runs, and your output summary should look like the screenshot below. If not, return to steps 3–7 and make sure you entered the inputs correctly. If your problem persists, contact support.