Iterating through changes rapidly

Developing an offshore wind farm involves a complex step-by-step process. First, you must decide on a site location, for which you must compile information regarding wind resources, considering wind speed and patterns over a long period. Similarly, you must understand water depth to facilitate construction and installation. Assessing the best-suited WTGs for the site and determining foundation types is also fundamental for successful development. Other important elements to consider are environmental factors such as bird and marine life that may be affected.  

Vortex Wind Speed at 150m; Source: Youwind Platform

You may even be forced to make decisions based on incomplete information to meet expected timelines. This is the case because of the nature of these large-scale projects, which require overlapping between many teams and departments.  
However, as the project progresses it is crucial to revise assumptions and update results as more information becomes available to you. This process helps redefine the direction of the project and improve the accuracy of the data to support the development plans.  

 
Suppose your tools for calculating the wind resource are separate from your tools for calculating the energy yield, which is again separate from your financial modelling tools. The process of transferring and adjusting data between platforms is not only a labour-intensive and time-consuming task but also prone to human error. Manual intervention in data is prone to small errors which will incorporate unnecessary uncertainty to your results which are vital for your decision making.  Is this a risk that you're willing to take when taking financial investment decisions?  

At Youwind, we believe there is a better way. We have been able to integrate all of these platform styles into one comprehensive system thereby streamlining the development process as well as reducing the risk of errors occurring.  With our flexible online platform, every bit of information is in the same place. Not only that, but it is also all connected.  

In the offshore wind development sector, small fluctuations in the price of components, wind speed, and other factors, can have a great impact on the final numbers.  An example of this could be when the turbine manufacturer has provided you with a site-specific power curve, the price of steel has gone up, or you need to update your expected installation times, these will all have knock-on effects on other parts of your project. With Youwind, when one value is changed, all results are updated with the click of a button. You can also compare the results with the scenario before the change so you can easily see how much of an effect the new information is having. You can do all of this with the confidence that the results are as up to date as is practically possible, and that the human error involved is minimised.   

CAPEX calculation; Source: Youwind Platform

If you would like to learn more about how Youwind can help you in your next development process, don’t hesitate to reach out.