Integrated Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing for Real-Time Monitoring of OWT Gearbox and Tower Operation and Marine Animal Activities
Leveraging fiber optical sensing for real-time monitoring of offshore wind deployments.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Recipient
Berkeley, CA
Recipient Location
9th
Senate District
14th
Assembly District
$2,000,000
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The project team completed work on this project at the end of 2024 and has submitted the final report.
The experiments demonstrated that distributed fiber-optic sensing technologies could effectively monitor strain profiles in wind towers and gearboxes in addition to providing detailed operation monitoring and early detection of potential failures. The researchers validated distributed acoustic sensing as a non-invasive tool for detecting whale vocalizations, though they also identified challenges related to noise mitigation. The project’s knowledge transfer activities facilitated dissemination of findings through scholarly publications, industry collaborations, and government engagement, establishing a foundation for future research and technology adoption.
The Issue
Monitoring systems for offshore wind turbines can play an important role in anticipating and rectifying operational and maintenance issues such as gearbox failures and in conducting environmental monitoring and implementing mitigation measures. There is a lack of advanced technologies that are capable of real-time operation and marine animal activity monitoring for offshore wind developments.
Project Innovation
This project aims to develop a fiber optic sensing system for real-time monitoring of offshore wind turbines. This approach will provides critical data to allow (1) real time monitoring of OWT operational conditions and diagnostic signal of potential malfunctions to allow effective operation management that can significantly reduce O&M costs, and (2) real time monitoring of dynamic marine mammal activities near OWTs to better understand potential impacts of OWT developments on marine life.
Project Benefits
The potential contribution from offshore wind energy to the renewable energy portfolio of California is key to achieve the 100% clean energy goals established in Senate Bill 100. Among the key challenges to floating offshore wind energy development is the high operation and maintenance cost. This project will lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs to overcome barriers to the achievement of the State of California's statutory energy goals by enabling real time OWT gearbox and tower operation and marine animal activities monitoring, which can lead to reduced O&M cost, reduced LCOE, greater OWT reliability and safety, and enhanced environmental sustainability.
Affordability
The development of this novel sensing technology can lead to a reduced LCOE by improving operational and environmental monitoring strategies in an offshore wind farm that reduce the O&M costs.
Reliability
Use of a fiber optic sensing system in offshore wind applications will increase electricity reliability and increased safety by providing real time monitoring to track operation status, and diagnose gearbox pre-failure.
Key Project Members
Yuxin Wu
Subrecipients
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the Berkeley Campus
Match Partners
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
