The partnership between Shoreline Wind and Parkwind, part of JERA Nex, the renewable energy subsidiary of JERA Co., Inc., will play a crucial role in planning for the company’s growing portfolio of offshore wind projects. With over 1 GW of operational wind assets across Europe, it has significant plans in place to expand its current portfolio. These plans include the 1.5 GW Sørlige Nordsjø II project in Norway (developed as a joint venture with Ingka) and the 375 MW Oriel Windfarm off the coast of Ireland.
As the offshore wind industry continues to expand, both geographically and in terms of capacity, there is increasing pressure to cut costs and improve reliability at a site level. Therefore, there is increased scrutiny of the decisions made during the design phase, which will have long-term implications for operators across the lifetime of the site. Shoreline’s state-of-the-art technology provides Parkwind with the tools required to meet the long-term demands of a rapidly evolving industry.
Using Shoreline’s, AI-powered, Design software to simulate the construction phase, Parkwind will analyze multiple data streams to create the most robust and efficient strategy. This includes optimizing the allocation of resources for maximum efficiency and analyzing and predicting weather patterns to ensure costly resources, such as jack-up vessels—which can incur expenses of up to $300,000 a day—are dispatched to the right location at the right time. Furthermore, by using the design tool for precise scheduling of vessel operations, substantial savings can be achieved throughout the construction phase.
Daniel Castro, WTG Package Engineer at Parkwind, emphasized the importance of this collaboration: “Shoreline Wind’s technology allows us to plan our projects more effectively by reducing operational costs and improving the overall performance of the design and construction phase. Parkwind’s offshore assets have grown consistently since its first project went online in 2010. We have now reached a critical point in our growth. Integrating Shoreline’s advanced Design software is an important and necessary step in scaling our operations globally while maintaining the highest standards of efficiency and sustainability.”
Jakob Bebe, Head of Sales EMEA at Shoreline Wind, said, “We are thrilled to be supporting Parkwind with its planning strategy globally. By simulating design and construction phases with a full picture of necessary data, including expected weather patterns and resource availability, Parkwind will reduce downtime and maximize operational efficiency. This approach ensures that expensive resources, such as specialized vessels and engineering teams, are used more effectively, which is crucial in the challenging and often costly offshore wind environment.”
Shoreline Wind’s Design solutions will further support Parkwind by enabling intelligent planning for its Operations and Maintenance (O&M) teams, simulating plans and schedules for when the site is fully operational. This will include scheduling and optimization of maintenance tasks on a large scale. The software can process a wide range of data streams that would affect maintenance schedules, including predicted weather conditions, vessel availability, and workforce skills and deployment. Users can also customize their plans, setting response schedules for a variety of different equipment failure rates, allowing operators to simulate best and worst-case scenarios and plans. Generating optimized plans for maintenance and repairs from the outset will provide an essential framework for the O&M teams allocated from day one of the next phase. This proactive approach not only minimizes operational disruptions but also helps prevent costly delays and unplanned outages in the short to mid-term of the project.
The partnership is expected to deliver substantial cost savings for Parkwind. Offshore wind operations are inherently complex, and much of the cost is tied to the deployment of vessels and skilled labor, as well as equipment downtime. By improving planning with the design tool, Shoreline’s solution provides critical cost reductions across all phases. Similar-sized organizations have realized up to 10% OPEX savings from Shoreline’s cost-effective workflows.
As well as the numerous commercial benefits, it is clear that collaborations like this will help secure the longevity and availability of wind power which will in turn help drive the sector forward.
