Opening of wind energy division

The joint venture between global marine technology developer Kongsberg Maritime and parent company Kongsberg has been implemented to develop solutions for wind park management and operations that will ultimately lower the cost of wind power generation, according to the company.
Wind park management and monitoring are the two main focuses of the new division. Kongsberg Maritime said there was a clear case for transferring its proven maritime and offshore systems to benefit the production of wind power and to meet the challenges the sector faces. As weather conditions can make wind parks inaccessible to personnel for long periods, and any stoppage results in major economic consequences, the possibilities of advanced monitoring and automation systems are extremely attractive to operators, it said. The wind park management focuses at maximum operational predictability and profitability of the park’s power generation.
“As more and more offshore wind parks are built, good systems for remote monitoring and diagnostics as well as calculating remaining economic life will be particularly important,” says Andreas Jagtøyen, vice president, Merchant Marine Trondheim, Kongsberg Maritime. “Our focused technology development will result in sophisticated systems for monitoring and condition-based maintenance, thus reducing maintenance costs and non-scheduled downtime. Such a system has clear parallels to the solutions we develop for integrated operations in the offshore oil and gas sector.”
The project is supported by the Research Council of Norway and headed by the new wind power division at Kongsberg Maritime, in partnership with eight other companies and R&D institutions.