finalRAVE: Focus on dismantling – final phase of the accompanying research at the German offshore test field alpha ventus

At a glance

• Germany’s first offshore wind farm, alpha ventus, will be dismantled in the next few years. This also signifies a new phase for the RAVE research initiative.
• The finalRAVE project will continue the existing measurements and ongoing coordination in order to provide a dataset for further research projects on the topic of the dismantling of offshore wind farms.
• Fraunhofer IWES is responsible for the coordination, scientific networking, and public relations work of the RAVE initiative.

The challenge

alpha ventus, the first German offshore wind farm, was built in 2009 as a test field for the development of the offshore wind energy sector. The “Research at alpha ventus” (RAVE) research initiative accompanied the planning and construction phase from 2007 and has been active alongside the operation of the wind farm since 2010. RAVE’s goal is to make a reliable dataset containing data from a real offshore wind farm available for research purposes as well as to the offshore industry.

The alpha ventus turbines are expected to reach the end of their service-life in 2030. However, it can be assumed that the wind farm will be dismantled earlier in light of the high operating costs. As such, alpha ventus will serve as a pilot project for a new era in offshore wind energy use: the dismantling of the turbines and all associated questions concerning the service life of the turbines, the impacts of the dismantling, and the logistics involved. 

The solution

A new phase is thus beginning for the RAVE research initiative. Building on the ongoing measuring and coordination projects (most recently OpenRAVE, 2020–2025), the existing measurements and ongoing coordination are to be continued in order to remain in a position to supply future RAVE research projects, which will accompany the dismantling of alpha ventus, with the relevant structural and environmental data required. The aim is to provide a measuring service functioning as the interface between the operator of alpha ventus and the scientific accompanying research and performing the required scientific measurements.

To this end, the partners will maintain and expand the RAVE research archive and complement the sea state portal, where the quality-controlled oceanographic measurement data and sea state data are stored and made available, with a data-driven sea state model on the basis of artificial intelligence.

Fraunhofer IWES’ task is to enable and support further innovations and research projects via the coordination, scientific networking, and public relations work of the RAVE initiative.

The added value

The dismantling of this first wind farm with a total of 12 wind turbines offers all stakeholders involved the unique opportunity to prepare themselves for the upcoming dismantling of large offshore wind farms in Germany in the near future. The ongoing measurement service will produce a dataset that current and future research projects of the RAVE initiative can benefit from without the time-consuming and complex task of collecting data in the wind farm themselves. Coordination of the around 240 data users at present will create synergies between completely different research projects.

More information: https://www.rave-offshore.de/en/start.html

At a glance

• alpha ventus is Germany’s oldest offshore wind farm, having commenced operations in 2010.
• As a test site, it was an essential component of German research into offshore wind energy use from the word go. Fraunhofer IWES began coordinating the research activities in the “Research at alpha ventus” (RAVE) research initiative in 2007 and will continue to do so until at least 2025.
• The primary goal in this respect is the networking of ongoing research projects with each other and the participating industry.

The challenge

2010 was a special year for the offshore wind energy sector in Germany: the first wind farm, the alpha ventus test site, commenced operations. The research sector has been strongly involved right from the development stage of the test site and Fraunhofer IWES (formerly ISET) has already been coordinating the scientific activities of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology’s (BMWi’s) “Research at alpha ventus” (RAVE) research initiative since May 2007.

The main research areas have evolved considerably over the years. When the RAVE initiative was first launched, the focus was still on proving the offshore suitability of the 5 MW turbine generation, its further development, and investigating open questions regarding offshore wind energy use and the development of the research potential in Germany. All of these targets have now been achieved. At the same time, a one-of-a-kind, valuable data set has been compiled. The measurement data collected since 2010 have now reached a volume of more than 30 terabytes.

The solution

The shared goal of Fraunhofer IWES and the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (BSH) in OpenRAVE is to continue expanding the unique and valuable data set of measurements collected at alpha ventus and grant research projects from within and outside RAVE easy access to this data. 

The added value

In the research coordination, Fraunhofer IWES will continue to focus on networking the research projects within and outside the RAVE initiative with each other and with the participating industry and to further increase awareness of RAVE.

More information: https://www.rave-offshore.de/en/start.html